SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 14 May. - (ANA) - Birthrates in Xinjiang fell by almost half in the two years after the Chinese government implemented policies to reduce the number of babies born to Uyghur and other Muslim minority families, new research has claimed. 

 

The figures show unprecedented declines which were more extreme than any global region at any time in the 71 years of UN fertility data collection, including during genocides in Rwanda and Cambodia, according to the authors of the report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (Aspi). 

 

The data adds to mounting evidence of coercive fertility policies in Xinjiang, including first-person accounts of forced sterilization or birth control, and leaked policing data on the internment of women for violating family planning regulations.

 

Over one million Uyghur people have been detained in camps in China, according to estimates, subjected to torture, forced labor, religious restrictions, and even forced sterilization. The vast majority of this minority ethnic group is Muslim, living for centuries at a crossroads of culture and empire along what was once the Silk Road. This week, we explore who the Uyghur people are, their land, their customs, their music and why they've become the target of what many are calling a genocide. - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/14 May 2021 - - -