The persecution of the Uyghurs, due to their ethnic and religious identity, serves as a chilling reminder to the horrors committed against the Jews in the Holocaust.
We must honour the victims and survivors of that genocide through our efforts to ensure it never happens again. The memory of the Holocaust lives on in our human rights framework, which gives the Jewish community both a particular authority and an acute moral responsibility to speak out against in protest when such atrocities are now happening to the Uyghurs.
URGENT ACTION (4 February 2021) – Write to your MP and demand no trade deals with genocidal states, using this link
The Genocide Amendment (Amendment 9), if passed, would make clear that parliament does not wish the UK Government to offer favourable trade tariffs to a genocidal state through a bilateral trade agreement, and in passed will enables U.K. courts to judge that the crime of genocide has happened. Read more about the amendment in this briefing
Challenge Volkswagen for its XUAR connection
We are asking Volkswagen to relocate its factory out of Xinjiang (China), where millions of Muslims are held in Concentration Camps and slave labour. Volkswagen is either the only, or one of the only, Western brands operating a factory in its own name in Xinjiang. See the BBC web article at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-54918309, and refer anyone who asks about the demonstration to this article.
The demonstration is currently only possible in twos. Print this sign and this sign for the two signs to be used in the Volkswagen protest (one for each person). You should hold your demonstrations outside any Volkswagen showroom or Volkswagen service center.
Crowd funding in support of the Stop Uyghur Genocide campaign
Support the‘gofundme’ fundraising appeal in support of the Stop Uyghur Genocide campaign calling for: closure of the camps and release of all prisoners; end to forced labour, sterilisation and organ harvesting; and the restoration of all religious and cultural freedoms. https://www.gofundme.com/f/stop-uyghur-genocide
Call to Action on businesses to end Uyghur forced labour from China
A Call to Action seeking brand commitments to cut all ties with suppliers implicated in forced labour and end all sourcing from the Uyghur Region, from cotton to finished garments, within twelve months. Write to companies and urge them to join Adidas, H&M, Lacoste, and M&S who have made formal commitments to cut all ties with suppliers implicated in Uyghur forced labour and to ban any sourcing from the Uyghur Region, from cotton to finished garments.
Generic letter to MP
ite to your MP to raise your concern on the treatment and persecution of Muslim Uyghurs in China. Template letter available here (read more about the situation of Uyghurs in China here).
Letter to MP on oppression of Uyghur Women
Write to your MP to raise your concern on China’s systematic oppression of Uyghur women. Template letter available here (read more about the plight of Uygur women in China here )
Weekly demonstration outside Chinese Embassy’s Cultural Section
Every Tuesday 6-7pm members of the Jewish Community protest outside the Chinese Embassy – Cultural Section, 11 West Heath Road, Hampstead NW3 7UX
Sign our Pledge – Stop Uyghur Genocide
A human rights crisis is unfolding in China, where at least one million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the Uyghur Region of China are suffering a grave persecution as part of a wide effort by the Chinese government to erase their culture and identity. Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide represent our world at its worst. Preventing them requires global leadership at its best. This is a calling to which the UK should aspire.
I therefore refuse to look the other way and I pledge to demand the UK Government to do the following:
1. Urgently request an independent United Nations mechanism to investigate, closely monitor and report annually on the human rights situation in the Uyghur Region, as called for by the UN’s Special Procedures’ experts.
2. Commission an independent legal investigation into Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the Uyghur Region.
3. Hold China accountable, through of coordinated sanctions with allies and Magnitsky style human rights sanctions against state and non-state perpetrators.
4. Take action against companies and institutions facilitating the persecution of Uyghurs and require companies importing products or components from China to investigate their supply chains for the risks of sourcing from the Uyghur region and the use of Uyghur forced labour anywhere in China, or move their supply chains from China.
5. Offer direct support to all Uyghurs fleeing persecution, including that available through the UK immigration system.
Signed:
Where now? Listen to René Cassin’s Mia Hasenson-Gross speaking on Jewish News podcast 11 February 2021: