Berlin: The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) has expressed serious concern over reports that Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang region are facing restrictions during the holy month of Ramadan, with several individuals allegedly arrested for observing religious practices.
The organisation stated that these actions reflected the absence of freedom of religion or belief in East Turkistan, also known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China.
Citing Uyghur Service of Radio Free Asia (RFA), the WUC stated that on February 27, the police authorities arrested six Uyghurs across several villages in China’s Hotan Prefecture—including Bulaq Chorgey, Bash Chapal, Dul Tugman, and Korgan—for allegedly “secretly fasting” during the holy month of Ramadan.
“Ramadan restrictions continue to be tightened, year after year. The recent detention of six Uyghurs proves that people don’t even have the freedom to do it in the privacy of their homes. Surveillance, coerced labour, these practices violate not only international law, but Chinese domestic laws,” said WUC President, Turgunjan Alawdun.
According to the WUC, these developments come amid ongoing discussions on the situation of Uyghurs at the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
In her thematic report to the Council, “How Freedom of Religion or Belief Relates to Death and Honouring the Deceased’’, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Nazila Ghanea highlighted that the Chinese authorities were destroying and replacing cemeteries of Uyghur muslims, under the auspices of “standardisation’’ and “civilisation’’, without the knowledge of the relatives of the deceased.
The WUC stated that such actions align with the Chinese government’s broader policy of “Sinicisation” of religion, designed to reshape religious practice to conform to Communist Party ideology and state control.
“In East Turkistan, this policy has translated into systematic restrictions on the expression of Islamic faith, including bans on fasting during Ramadan for many segments of the population, the removal or alteration of mosques and religious sites, the prohibition of religious education, and the criminalisation of everyday religious behaviour. Practices that are normal expressions of faith—such as fasting, prayer, wearing religious clothing, or teaching religion to children—are increasingly treated as signs of ‘extremism’,” the WUC stated.
“ The surveillance and punishment of Uyghurs for observing Ramadan therefore reflect a broader strategy aimed at eroding independent religious life and forcing the assimilation of Uyghurs into a state-defined cultural and ideological framework, in clear violation of the right to freedom of religion or belief under international law,” it added.
