Washington [USA], Aug 1 (ANI): China has started the forced marriage game by advertising marriages to Uyghur women and girls to attract men into the Xinjiang or East Turkistan region of China, according to a report published in the Daily Citizen – Focus on the Family.
“This is government-sponsored mass rape,” Rushan Abbas, head of Campaign for Uyghurs, was quoted as saying in an interview.
As part of the Beijing government’s “Pair Up and Become Family” campaign, Han Chinese members of the Communist Party go and live with Uyghur families for a period of time, The Daily Citizen reported.
While the campaign is portrayed as a means to develop deeper cultural ties and familial bonds, in reality, it’s a way to keep an eye on the Uyghur families and report to the authorities if Chinese practices are not followed by the families.
Citing an estimate, The Daily Citizen said that about a million Han men and women have participated in these surveillance efforts.
It is the Uyghur women who suffer the most in these situations.
Abbas said, “The Uyghur women are vulnerable to sexual abuse. Their husbands are sent to prisons or forced labour facilities or concentration camps.”
Besides the forced marriages, the young Uyghur women are also reportedly sold to Chinese men for marriage.
“While the Uyghur men are taken away to concentration camps, the Uyghur women are forced to marry Han men,” Abbas said while adding, “The girls nor their families, can reject a forced marriage, for fear of repercussions. If they say no, then they will be viewed as Islamic extremist who didn’t want to marry non-Muslim Chinese. So, they cannot reject a proposal.”
“Just imagine, when a girl cannot choose who she wants to marry or if she cannot reject who she doesn’t want to marry, what is that? That’s rape. Uyghur women are being raped through the government’s sponsorship of sham marriage. Han Chinese men are encouraged to come to East Turkistan to marry Uyghur girls with government gratification like jobs, housing and money.”
The Daily Citizen also reported that there is a guide about “How to win the heart of a Uyghur girl,” wherein the author suggests, “‘coordinating’ between these local work units and social security workers will produce ‘strong backing and support’ that cannot be defeated by ‘religious extremism.'” (ANI)
