The protests that swept China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in July came as no surprise to China watchers. They were the culmination of years of attempted erosion of the ethnic identity of the Uighur people of the region by the ruling Han majority.

The ensuing violence left a reported 197 dead, 1,600 injured and 1,434 detained.

The Uighurs are an Indigenous East Turkestan people with their own history, culture, language, religion and traditions. Despite formal autonomy, the XUAR is tightly controlled by the Chinese Government and the Han Chinese now outnumber the Uighurs by more than two to one.

In its April 2009 report Uighur Ethnic Identity under Threat in China, Amnesty International highlighted the constant battle by the Uighur community to maintain their culture and have the same rights as their Han countrymen.

Amnesty International has not been able to independently verify the Chinese Government's fi gures or claims that the majority of those killed in the recent violence were Han Chinese attacked by Uighur mobs. But the organisation suspects many more Uighurs may have died than is being acknowledged.

The government has claimed the rioting was orchestrated by Uighur groups simultaneously in up to 50 locations across Urumqi in an attempt to split Xinjiang from China. Uighur groups claim it was sparked by the deaths of two Uighur factory workers in southern China.

Cultural repression

Since the 1980s, Uighurs have been the target of systematic and extensive human rights violations, including arbitrary detention and imprisonment, incommunicado detention and serious restrictions on religious freedom, cultural and social rights.

Rebiya Kadeer, the most high profi le Uighur to rally support from the international community for her people, says Uighurs are transported across China as cheap labour and that family planning policies and abortion are being used to restrict the growth of the Uighur population.

Rebiya Kadeer met Australian MPs and addressed the Press Club in August this year despite attempts by Chinese Government offi cials in Canberra to prevent her visit and prevent her speaking.

Amnesty International has called on the Chinese Government to immediately make all people in Xinjiang safe without the use of excessive force and to address the underlying and ongoing causes of the protests and violence.

It has urged authorities to "respect their obligations under domestic and international law, that protect peaceful freedom of expression and assembly and prohibit arbitrary arrest and torture or ill-treatment in custody". It is also calling for the government to allow free access to the XUAR for domestic and foreign journalists and independent observers to report on the recent incidents.

Lawyer disbarred

China's human rights lawyers are having their licences revoked by the Chinese Government. Amnesty International condemns the decision to disbar Jiang Tianyong and not re-register the licences of 24 other human rights lawyers. Only a small proportion of lawyers in China take the risk of working on human rights cases, including legal aid for Tibetans, Falun Gong practitioners and families of victims of the baby milk powder scandal.

Helena Lewis is a freelance journalist and a regular contributor to the Human Right Defender.

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