Editing Persecution (section)

===Uyghurs===
{{further|Persecution of Uyghurs in China|Xinjiang conflict}}

[[Uyghurs]] and other [[Turkic peoples]] in modern-day [[Xinjiang]] (called [[East Turkestan]] by [[East Turkestan independence movement|independence activists]]) declared two short-lived independent [[East Turkestan Republic (disambiguation)|East Turkestan Republic]]s<!--intentional link to DAB page--> in the 20th century.<ref name="WP-Uyghur"/><ref name="NYT-Uyghur"/> In late 1949, the region and the rest of China came under the control of the [[People's Republic of China]].<ref name="WP-Uyghur">{{cite news |last1=Dou |first1=Eva |title=Who are the Uighurs, and what's happening to them in China? |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/02/11/china-uighurs-genocide-xinjiang/ |access-date=16 March 2021 |agency=Washington Post |date=11 February 2021}}</ref>

Uyghur activist groups have said that anger towards the Chinese government has been fueled by years of state-sponsored oppression and discrimination.<ref name="WP-Uyghur"/> In 2017, the China began a large-scale crackdown on the Xinjiang region, which it justifies as a counterterrorism campaign following sporadic terrorist attacks in Xinjiang.<ref name="WP-Uyghur"/> Scholars estimate that the Chinese government detained over one million Uyghurs in [[Xinjiang internment camps|internment camps]] (also called re-education camps) in order to indoctrinate them away from religion and [[Sinicization|Sinicize]] them (assimilate them into [[Chinese culture]]).<ref name="WP-Uyghur"/><ref name="NYT-Uyghur">{{cite news |last1=Simons |first1=Marlise |title=Uighur Exiles Push for Court Case Accusing China of Genocide |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/06/world/asia/china-xinjiang-uighur-court.html |access-date=16 March 2021 |agency=New York Times |date=6 July 2020}}</ref> Critics of the policy have described it as the [[Sinicization]] of Xinjiang and they have also called it an [[ethnocide]] or a [[cultural genocide]],<ref name="indy">{{Cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-muslim-children-uighur-family-separation-thought-education-a8989296.html  |title='Cultural genocide': China separating thousands of Muslim children from parents for 'thought education' |work=[[The Independent]] |date=5 July 2019 |access-date=27 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200422051855/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-muslim-children-uighur-family-separation-thought-education-a8989296.html |archive-date=22 April 2020 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/cultural-genocide-for-repressed-minority-of-uighurs-bp0w6dw89 |title='Cultural genocide' for repressed minority of Uighurs |work=[[The Times]] |date=17 December 2019 |access-date=27 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200425012712/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/cultural-genocide-for-repressed-minority-of-uighurs-bp0w6dw89 |archive-date=25 April 2020 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/chinese-oppression-of-the-uighurs-like-cultural-genocide-a-1298171.html |title=China's Oppression of the Uighurs 'The Equivalent of Cultural Genocide' |work=[[Der Spiegel]] |date=28 November 2019 |access-date=27 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200121105242/https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/chinese-oppression-of-the-uighurs-like-cultural-genocide-a-1298171.html |archive-date=21 January 2020 |url-status=live }}</ref> while some governments, activists, independent [[NGO]]s, [[human rights]] organizations, academics, government officials, and the [[East Turkistan Government-in-Exile]] have called it a [[genocide]].<ref name="icij_Brit">{{Cite web |title=British lawmakers call for sanctions over Uighur human rights abuses |last=Alecci |first=Scilla |publisher=[[International Consortium of Investigative Journalists]] |date=October 14, 2020 |access-date=December 18, 2020 |url= https://www.icij.org/investigations/china-cables/british-lawmakers-call-for-sanctions-over-uighur-human-rights-abuses/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=2021-02-08|title=Uighurs: 'Credible case' China carrying out genocide|work=[[BBC News]]|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-55973215|access-date=2021-02-08}}</ref>