dogu-turkistan-sempozyumu

The Struggle in East Turkistan and Non-Governmental Organizations / Atty Gulden SonmezResounding silence from women’s organizations in the face of the sufferingof Uyghur womenThe greatest grievances, and one of the major violations inflicted inEast Turkistan are those inflicted on the women. The forced and oppressiveimplementation of the “birth control policy”, which targets the Uyghurs in EastTurkistan, has aggrieved thousands of women in the region. In particular, pregnantUyghur women and Uyghur foetuses in the final trimester have suffered frominhumane and savage murders. A law enacted by the Chinese administration inHotan city, a place with a large Uyghur population will help to understand forunderstand the underlying reasons for the “birth control policy” that has beenimplemented by the Chinese government against Uyghurs. Local administratorsin villages and towns heavily populated by the Uyghur have had these policiesimplemented in an inhumane manner. Beatings and the imposition of heavyfines 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 whilethe 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 makesthem little less than prisoners, implanting birth control instruments by force(the insertion of a spiral by force), carrying out involuntary hysterectomies andinvoluntary gynaecological examinations are routine practice. All such practicesare, for the most part, performed under insanitary conditions and many womenhave died of blood loss. All such practices cause unbearable physical andpsychological pain for the women. According to reports published in the Hotannewspaper, a state newspaper published in East Turkistan, there are 45 thousandwomen of reproductive age in the Hotan sub-province and 30,400 of these haveundergone treatment for long-term birth control. According to the statementsof an associate professor who requested for political asylum in Munich, womenwho are forced to have hysterectomies face a high fatality rate or the contractionof debilitating diseases both during and after the operation, as the hospitalsthroughout East Turkistan do not have the necessary conditions or equipment. Asthe Uyghur women who in the villages are poor, for the most part uneducated andlack any medical information or awareness, they are likely to suffer from lifelongcomplaints due to the lack of post-operative care, and also because they carry outphysically taxing jobs. 20537