World, Europe

Holocaust survivors urge UK to act on Uyghur ‘genocide'

Ruth Barnett, Dorit Oliver Wolff ask Boris Johnson for meeting

Rabia İclal Turan  | 24.02.2021 - Update : 12.03.2021
Holocaust survivors urge UK to act on Uyghur ‘genocide'

ANKARA

Holocaust survivors have urged the UK to denounce "genocide" against Uyghurs in the Xinjiang autonomous region in China.

Survivors Ruth Barnett and Dorit Oliver Wolff sent a letter Tuesday to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, inviting him to a meeting to discuss China’s treatment of the Uyghurs ahead of a vote in the House of Commons on “genocide amendment.”

Barnet and Wolff said they know the “trauma of genocide” as survivors of the holocaust.

“We are deeply concerned that the UK is not doing enough whilst the genocide against the Uyghurs worsens,” they wrote. “Any considerable person cannot ignore that the Uyghurs in Xinjiang and other groups are facing genocide. We are watching on as one of the most egregious crimes is unfolding before our eyes.”

Survivors criticized the UK government for not doing enough to “prevent and punish genocide.”

“Trade is not worth the price of people. We simply cannot stand by when others remain silent,” they wrote, urging Johnson to meet to discuss the issue.

A 2018 Human Rights Watch report detailed a Chinese government campaign of "mass arbitrary detention, torture, forced political indoctrination, and mass surveillance of Xinjiang's Muslims."

China, however, has repeatedly denied allegations that it is operating detention camps in its northwestern autonomous region, claiming instead that they are "re-educating" Uighurs.

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