Xinjiang

Authorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) capital of Urumqi have detained two young Uyghur men for distributing leaflets on a university campus calling on students to organize a public demonstration. Available information suggests the leaflets may have called on students to protest tobacco and alcohol sales. Two security staff at Xinjiang University (XU) detained 20-year-old Miradil (Mir'adil) Yasin and 19-year-old Mutellip Téyip on December 20, 2008, after seeing them distribute leaflets within the campus gates, according to a December 25 report of the event on the XU Web site and a Xinhua report posted January 1, 2009, on the Xinhua Bingtuan Web site. Two people outside the campus gates fled the scene as the detention occurred, according to the reports.

Authorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) issued an opinion in December 2008 to accelerate rural reform and development, combining policies aimed at improving conditions in rural areas with steps to continue tight political controls in the region. The Opinion on Deepening the Promotion of Rural Reform and Development (Opinion), issued by the XUAR Communist Party Committee and XUAR government on December 8, follows national plans issued in 2007 and earlier in 2008 to promote development in ethnic minority regions.

Authorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) have continued to promote restrictive security measures and widespread propaganda campaigns throughout fall 2008, according to various reports from the region. As noted in the Congressional-Executive Commission on China 2008 Annual Report (via the Government Printing Office Web site), repression increased in the region earlier in the year amid preparations for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games, limited reports of terrorist activity, and protests among Tibetan and Uyghur communities in China.

The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) government recently announced steps to increase the number of "bilingual" elementary school and preschool teachers in the region, according to several reports from XUAR media. As noted by the Congressional-Executive Commission on China in its 2008 Annual Report (via the Government Printing Office Web site), educational policies described as "bilingual" by the XUAR government have placed primacy on Mandarin Chinese, undercutting provisions in Chinese law to protect ethnic minority languages and promote their use in XUAR schools. The XUAR's "bilingual" education policies have affected the career prospects of ethnic minority teachers, who face Mandarin language skill requirements if their primary teaching language is an ethnic minority language.

The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) government continued this year to force students to participate in controversial "work-study" programs, but have restricted students in junior high school and lower grades from participating in cotton-picking activities. According to a September 19 Tianshan Net article, the XUAR Department of Education issued a circular this fall stopping all students enrolled in the state's compulsory nine years of elementary and junior high school education from picking cotton in work-study programs. The XUAR government discontinued this form of work-study because central government funding for rural compulsory education, which doubled in 2008 over the previous year, meets XUAR schools' funding needs, according to the report.

Authorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) released from the hospital a Uyghur woman who is six months pregnant with her third child, after cancelling plans to subject her to a forced abortion for violating the region's population planning regulations, according to reports from Radio Free Asia (RFA). Unable to pay a 45,000 yuan (US$6,591) fine for exceeding the number of births permitted under the region's population planning system, Arzigul (Arzugül) Tursun, a villager from Ghulja county, initially fled home to avoid being forced to have an abortion in place of paying the fine, RFA reported on November 13. After pressuring Arzigul Tursun's family to locate her, authorities also coerced Arzigul Tursun's husband into signing papers to approve the abortion, RFA reported.

Chinese authorities have continued to target religious leaders for harassment, detention, and other abuses, in the midst and aftermath of the Olympic Games. China's preparations for the sporting event ushered in a period of heightened government scrutiny and control over communities including religious groups. Recently reported cases include:

Officials in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) called again in August for the use of harsh security measures to crack down against the government-designated "three forces" of terrorism, separatism, and extremism, according to reports from Chinese media. On August 13, Wang Lequan, XUAR Communist Party Chair, described the battle against the "three forces" as a "life or death struggle" and pledged to "strike hard" against their activities, according to an August 14 report from the Xinjiang Daily. XUAR Party Committee Standing Committee member Zhu Hailun reiterated the pledge to "strike hard" at an August 18 meeting, according to an August 19 report from the Xinjiang Daily.