The Uyghur Suffer Genocide as the World Watches the Olympics

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: As we mentioned, the eyes of the world are on the Beijing Winter Olympics for more than just its sporting achievements. China is under intense global scrutiny for its treatment of the Muslim Uyghur population. Actions, the U.S. State Department has labeled a genocide. For human rights attorney and Uyghur advocate, Rayhan Asat, China’s abuses are personal. She says, her own brother was forcibly disappeared by the government and subjected to indefinite solitary confinement. She joins Hari Sreenivasan to share her brother’s story and why some are calling these games the genocide Olympics.

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HARI SREENIVASAN: Christiane, thanks. Rayhan Asat, thanks so much for joining us. When you are watching the Olympics right now, what do you want people to remember and think about?

RAYHAN ASAT, HUMAN RIGHTS ATTORNEY AND YALE LAW FELLOW: You know, at this moment, when China is being accused of committing genocide, it gets to celebrate its legitimacy as well as this wonderful game that’s designed to bring the entire world together. And I don’t want people to be tricked by the facade or image that China is trying to portray but remember what is happening behind those scenes in the dark corners of the world where at least a million Uyghur are locked up in the concentration camps and the (INAUDIBLE) factories and its vast prison camps, including innocent individuals like my own brother.

SREENIVASAN: Tell me for people who might still be learning about what happens to the Uyghur population in the west side of the country, what are the people there living through? What do we know as a certain fact?

ASAT: At the moment, the Chinese government under pretax are fighting against three evils, what they call three evils, extremism, terrorism and separatism, actually, cracking down on people for just simply being who they are. And that is being Uyghur, a (INAUDIBLE) and their own target identity. All the people who are locked up in these camps are innocent. They could be persecuted because simply being young or passing regular religion that the Chinese government’s own constitution law allows or just by studying abroad or having connection to foreign country r using a WhatsApp VPN, and these are just simple methods of the Chinese government used it as an excuse to detain somebody in its (INAUDIBLE) crackdown against a race against ethnicity. So, basically, what we can conclude is that the Chinese government leads a war against a race.

SREENIVASAN: You know, back in January of 2021, State Department, Secretary Blinken, affirmed back in January that the people’s Republic of China, PRC, is committing genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghur. So, how does this translate? What is the Chinese government doing that elevates this to the level of genocide?

ASAT: Well, the Chinese government in the views of many lawyers and legal activists breached its obligation under the genocide convention. Like, for example, like everything that is happening the camps, whether the full separation of children or causing emotional and physical harm against this population and against the people and as well as force civilization of women, the torture and the politically indoctrination, all of that are happening in the camps meet the U.N. definition of genocide by building all these concentration camps and by putting people through these unspeakable human suffering. China is, indeed, committing genocide.

SREENIVASAN: I want to ask a little bit about your brother. Tell our audience who he was and why it is that he is in a Chinese prison today.

ASAT: You know, my brother is my best friend. He’s — I love him dearly. He’s a wonderful dance partner, son and a friend. But also, somebody who truly believed in the power of technology and how it can advance and point opportunities for many young and upcoming musicians, artists, writers. So, he provided a platform, basically, a combination of a lot of social media platforms like Facebook or “The New York Times” or “CNN.” So, you do have this networking features, but as well as you can actually have access to news, columns and even Chinese laws that you can read about. But in addition, at his core, he’s very much committed to philanthropy. So, he provided — he engaged in a lot of philanthropic commitment concerning kids with disabilities, elderly or survivors of sexual violence. Because of all of that, he was invited to participate in the State Department’s very (INAUDIBLE) program that have produced many world leaders, including the U.N. secretary-general, Antonio Gutierrez, who at the moment is attending the Olympic in China. And yet, my brother’s fate could not be further apart from him. And because of him being an intellectual and just because he was Uyghur and he came to the United States, they put him in the concentration camps. He disappeared within weeks after returning from the U.S.

SREENIVASAN: So, we reached out to the Chinese embassy about it and they pointed us to a statement that they gave back in 2020 to ABC News where they said, Chinese citizen Ekpar Asat was sentenced to 15 years in prison on conviction of inciting to splitting the country. He confessed to his crime and is serving the sentence in good health. He was convicted because he violated the law of China and this has nothing to do with if he attended a certain activity in the United States or not.

ASAT: You know, the charges changed repeatedly. The initial charge was inciting ethnic hatred and ethnic discrimination. And I pointed out how a member of ethnic group who is systematically oppressed by the state can commit ethnic discrimination against the majority who is by definition is his oppressor. I think as a result of that, they now changed it to a new crime which is inciting splitting. Now, the Chinese government couldn’t point to single evidence that supports its claim, but yet, they’re just so hasten to change the crime as they please, and that speaks volume as to the justice system, what kind of justice system (INAUDIBLE) Chinese government has, and this is nothing but a travesty of justice.

SREENIVASAN: Do you have access to your brother? Does your family get to see your brother?

ASAT: That is the whole mockery of the justice system itself. For almost five years, my parents didn’t have any access to him. They couldn’t even visit him or see him. They didn’t even know where he is being held. Only until after I became a public advocate for him, the Chinese government was forced to showcase him in some sort of what is called proof of life video. And this only took place almost five years after he forcibly disappeared. And in that video, he looked gone, he looked like a shadow of his former self. In fact, he’s held in solitary confinement since January of 2019. Now, under the international law, if you hold somebody for more than 14 days under solitary confinement, that is the definition of torture.

SREENIVASAN: Are you concerned that your advocacy on his behalf could make life more difficult for your parents or other relatives who are still in the province?

ASAT: I’m always concerned. And I think that is the far — the long arm reach of the Chinese government. Even here in the U.S., I can never be free because you are always self-censoring yourself, you’re walking this really fine line and trying to understand where you want to be very firm in your advocacy but are you also don’t want to do more harm by putting your family in danger. And, you know, nobody should live the life like that. You know, you’re constantly calculating, is this strong enough? Can I demand from it? And I should be able to do that as an advocate, as a sister and as a family member. But at the same time, like the Chinese government often retaliates against people who speak up and I am always worried about him. Would he be tortured every time I speak? In fact, right now, speaking to you, I’m — you know, he’s in my mind. What’s going to happen to him? But the truth shines and I must speak up. If I don’t, the world wouldn’t know what has happened to him. And I want to make sure the world knows his finding, his story but as well as what is happening to the millions of innocent like him.

SREENIVASAN: Do you ever feel guilty? I mean, here you are having a conversation with me after having a career in law, you’re safe and sound, and yet, your parents are kind of in this weird limbo where they have one child who is safe and one child who they know hardly anything about any more?

ASAT: Survivor’s guilt is a real thing. I think I’m a survivor but I’m also a fighter. And I am very much reminded of that every day he spends in the Chinese government concentration camp, it reminds me that I narrowly escaped from the very same camps that my brother is suffering right now. Just imagine for a second, I could be in that camp and I think that intimate understanding of my fate is what fuels me to be his advocate. So, yes, it’s a guilt, as well as well immense responsibility.

SREENIVASAN: So, why do you think it is that if the U.S. State Department agrees that there is a genocide that is under way that even decide to not have diplomatic ties or diplomatic boycott during this Olympics, but why do we go forward? Why do we — and all the other nations that are there right now, why do they engage in this Olympics if something so egregious is happening?

ASAT: Well, I think China’s lonely economic influence dictates today’s outcome. Many countries are reluctant to engage even in diplomatic boycott, let alone sending the athletes to excel while many people are locked up in the prison camps. I think the International Olympic Committee has been so disgraceful. And Thomas Bach, who is the senior executive of the Olympics actually said that they don’t want to get in between two parties, the Chinese government/Uyghurs. Let’s set the record straight, this is not two state actors who are engaged in some sort of dispute. This is — it’s is not even dispute. It is a crackdown between a powerful state actor against people who have no agency whatsoever.

SREENIVASAN: I want to get your reaction to this statement from the IOC. And it says, the IOC has neither the mandate nor the capability to change the laws or the political system of a sovereign country. Given the diverse participation in the Olympic Games, the IOC must remain neutral on all global, political issues. Is this a global political issue?

ASAT: This not of a global and political issue. This is a human rights issue. This is a humanitarian crisis. And in fact, if anything, the IOC is actually politicizing and taking side of the oppressor. And for me, that is a political choice that they are making. They’re not making a humanitarian decision based on massive and unspeakable and immeasurable human suffering that is taking place. IOC has been very much a complicit in the aftermath of Peng Shuai star tennis player enforced disappearance. And now, she’s totally walking back all her allegations, and the IOC is there to orchestrate this whole campaign. So, no, I think if anything the IOC is complicit in the Chinese government whitewashing the genocide and totally claiming its legitimacy while the entire world is watching.

SREENIVASAN: When people watch the opening ceremony, they saw that the torch was lit by someone with a Uyghur last name. And I think she’s a cross country skier. And so, when you heard that news, what did you think?

ASAT: Well, I was still in a bit of disbelief. Like I knew that the Chinese government would, you know, put forward some sort of like a showcase, but I wasn’t expecting that in honor of such magnitude would be given to a Uyghur torch barrier. If this is a different timeline, it could have been a moment of pride and celebration for the Uyghur community as well as China. Only if China is a country that celebrates (INAUDIBLE) and diversity. But it’s not a selection executed in good faith. It’s a deliberate choice. It’s a proactive choice while the Chinese government is being accused committing ethnic cleansing and genocide and crimes against humanity to the Uyghur population. It is trying to showcase that Uyghurs are not tortured, Uyghurs do have these opportunities. And I actually compare this to the Berlin Olympics, Helene Mayer, that — like she was forced to deliver a Nazi salute and she later claimed it may have saved her family. And you can see from the initial roll out of her and this whole grand gesture to the point of how her family was captured in that moment celebrating her. All of that is part of the propaganda campaign to paint a different narrative as to what’s happening in Xinjian. But in some ways, I also took it as a reactionary move. We put the Chinese government on defense. That it has to respond.

SREENIVASAN: When you turn on the Olympics tonight, you see no shortage of global companies, American companies still advertising at these games. What goes through your mind when you see that corporate support is still strong?

ASAT: You know, one thing I need to highlight is that American companies are eager to have their values on racial equity and justice when it sells its interests. In America, it’s trendy to stand up for oppressed community, whether the Black Lives Matter or the controversial Georgia’s voting laws and such. But, I mean, when it comes to China, if they do speak the truth, then they would be cut out from this massive and lucrative economy and the market. Hence, they couldn’t uphold the values they so proclaimed to be in the United States. So, we see a lot of double standards from the American companies. And, you know, it’s really disheartening to see that because American companies, at the end of the day, they are incorporated under the U.S. law. And not being complicit in genocide should be the basic norms of ethical business. But that’s not the kind of practice we’re seeing right now.

SREENIVASAN: Yale Law fellow and human rights attorney Rayhan Asat, thanks so much for joining us.

ASAT: Thank you for having me.