Possible Genocide in Xinjiang, China
Download the Case Study Slideshow: Possible Genocide in Xinjiang, China

Dates: May 2014 – Present
Location: Xinjiang Province in China (East Asia)
Perpetrators: Xi Jinping, Chen Quanguo, and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
Victims: Ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, mostly Turkic Muslims (Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Krgyz)
Number Killed: Unknown
Number of Refugees/IDPs: 50,000 – 100,000
News Articles:
- Stay up to date with Human Rights Watch’s work on China
- HRW: Travel for Uyghurs Heavily Restricted
- HRW: UN Needs to Address Crimes Against Humanity in China
- HRW: Thailand: Don’t Send Uyghurs to China
- HRW: Hundreds of Uyghur Village Names Change
- HRW urges the European Commission to assess the impact of state-imposed forced labor in Xinjiang in Electric Vehicle sector
- HRW calls for the release of Uyghurs including Ikram Nurmehmet and Ilham Tohti
Videos:
Carmakers Implicated in Uyghur Forced Labor (3:23)
(Click to watch, 3:23)
Global carmakers, including General Motors, Tesla, BYD, Toyota, and Volkswagen, are failing to minimize the risk of Uyghur forced labor being used in their aluminum supply chains, Human Rights Watch said in a report. The 99-page report, “Asleep at the Wheel: Car Companies’ Complicity in Forced Labor in China,” finds that some carmakers have succumbed to Chinese government pressure to apply weaker human rights and responsible sourcing standards at their Chinese joint ventures than in their global operations, increasing the risk of exposure to forced labor in Xinjiang. Most have done too little to map their aluminum supply chains and identify links to forced labor.
Chinese Officials Impose Home Visits on Muslim Families (0:56)
(Click to watch, 0:56)
Chinese officials, since early 2018, have imposed regular “home stays” on families in the predominantly Muslim region of Xinjiang. These visits are part of the government’s increasingly invasive “Strike Hard” campaign in the region, home to 11 million Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities. During these visits, families are required to provide officials with information about their lives and political views and are subjected to political indoctrination. The Chinese government should immediately end this visitation program, which violates rights to privacy and family life and the cultural rights of ethnic minorities protected under international human rights law.