dogu-turkistan-sempozyumu

The Struggle in East Turkistan and Non-Governmental Organizations / Atty Gulden Sonmez
Resounding silence from women’s organizations in the face of the suffering
of Uyghur women
The greatest grievances, and one of the major violations inflicted in
East Turkistan are those inflicted on the women. The forced and oppressive
implementation of the “birth control policy”, which targets the Uyghurs in East
Turkistan, has aggrieved thousands of women in the region. In particular, pregnant
Uyghur women and Uyghur foetuses in the final trimester have suffered from
inhumane and savage murders. A law enacted by the Chinese administration in
Hotan city, a place with a large Uyghur population will help to understand for
understand the underlying reasons for the “birth control policy” that has been
implemented by the Chinese government against Uyghurs. Local administrators
in villages and towns heavily populated by the Uyghur have had these policies
implemented in an inhumane manner. Beatings and the imposition of heavy
fines for contravening the birth control are was common practices in the country.
Pregnant women are taken to hospital by force and the foetuses are killed while
the woman is 5 to 6 months pregnant or even several days before the delivery.
Imposing regulations on Uyghur villages and the women living there that makes
them little less than prisoners, implanting birth control instruments by force
(the insertion of a spiral by force), carrying out involuntary hysterectomies and
involuntary gynaecological examinations are routine practice. All such practices
are, for the most part, performed under insanitary conditions and many women
have died of blood loss. All such practices cause unbearable physical and
psychological pain for the women. According to reports published in the Hotan
newspaper, a state newspaper published in East Turkistan, there are 45 thousand
women of reproductive age in the Hotan sub-province and 30,400 of these have
undergone treatment for long-term birth control. According to the statements
of an associate professor who requested for political asylum in Munich, women
who are forced to have hysterectomies face a high fatality rate or the contraction
of debilitating diseases both during and after the operation, as the hospitals
throughout East Turkistan do not have the necessary conditions or equipment. As
the Uyghur women who in the villages are poor, for the most part uneducated and
lack any medical information or awareness, they are likely to suffer from lifelong
complaints due to the lack of post-operative care, and also because they carry out
physically taxing jobs. 20
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