China Forces and Incentivises Interethnic Intermarriage onto Uyghur Women

China Forces and Incentivises Interethnic Intermarriage onto Uyghur Women
Flag of China painted on a cracked wall. Source: © Thomas Ragina/iStock, August 03, 2022.

Theresa Erna Jürgenssen

East Asia Human Rights Researcher

Global Human Rights Defence

Last week, the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) [1] released a report in which it analysed Chinese state media, government sectioned stories, and personal accounts that detailed the systematic imposition of forced interethnic marriages on Uyghur women by the Chinese government. According to the report, “the Chinese Party-State is actively involved in carrying out a campaign of forcefully assimilating Uyghurs into Han Chinese society by means of mixed marriages” (Worden et al., 2022).

Figures clearly show that since 2018 there has been a significant increase in interethnic marriages between Uyghur women and Han men in East Turkistan (Worden et al., 2022). While the Chinese government claims that this change has come about because of “government ‘de-extremification work’ promoting ethnic ‘exchange and integration’” the report by UHRP argues that the government’s work is extensively based on incentivisation and coercion techniques. Examples of such techniques include the following:

  • The interethnic marriages are incentivised through various economic and other benefits, including inter alia cash payments, tuition waivers, and jobs;
  • Uyghur women and their parents “face an ever-present threat of punishment if the women decline to marry a Han ‘suitor’” – refusal could be labelled as a sign of “extremism” and may even risk detention as punishment;
  • Uyghur women often have no other option but to marry Han men due to the ever-declining number of young Uyghur men present in the region, as they are being detained or sent away to labour camps;
  • The report further details several accounts of women being sexually harassed and raped by Han men inter alia as a result of government integration programs – such rapes may further lead to the dissolution of Uyghur marriages (Worden et al., 2022). 

The report argues that the forced marriages violate international human rights law, in particular the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women [2], and the Trafficking Protocol [3] (Worden et al., 2022). It should also be noted that rape will violate the right to the highest attainable standard of health guaranteed by Article 12 of the of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights [4], which includes the right to sexual freedom (CESCR, General Comment No. 14, para. 8). The report further highlights how interethnic marriage can be linked with modern forms of slavery and human trafficking. Finally, it concludes that the inter-ethnic forced marriages constitute crimes against humanity and genocide (Worden et al., 2022). According to UHRP the “government policies incentivizing and coercing intermarriage and other gender based-abuse only further the ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity being committed in East Turkistan” (Worden et al., 2022). 

The report comes at a significant point in time. Only a few months ago the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights released its own report in which it considered that the treatment of Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities in Xinjiang “may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity” (OHCHR, para. 148). Moreover, only a few weeks ago, fifty United Nations member states issued a joint statement at the UN General Assembly this October denouncing China for its human rights violations in Xinjiang (Statement by Bob Rae on behalf of Canada, 2022). 



Notes:

[1] The UHRP is an independent non-profit organization committed to promoting the rights of the Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim peoples in East Turkistan/Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. 

[2] Ratified by China in 1980 (OHCHR). 

[3] Ratified by China in 2010 (UN). 

[4] Ratified by China 2001 (OHCHR).



Sources and further reading:

Abdureshid, N. (2022, November 18). China uses carrots and sticks to boost Uyghur-Han intermarriage: report. Radio Free Asia. Retrieved on November 22, 2022, from https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/marriage-assimilation-11182022195239.html

Jürgenssen. T.E. (2022, November 02). Fifty States at the UN General Assembly Denounce china For Human Rights Violations in the Xinjiang Region. Retrieved on November 22, 2022, from https://ghrtv.org/fifty-states-at-the-un-general-assembly-denounce-china-for-human-rights-violations-in-the-xinjiang-region

OHCHR. (2022, August 31). OHCHR Assessment of human rights concerns in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, People’s Republic of China. Retrieved on November 122 2022, https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/countries/2022-08-31/22-08-31-final-assesment.pdf

OHCHR. (n.d.). Ratification Status for China. Retrieved on November 22, 2022, from https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/TreatyBodyExternal/Treaty.aspx?CountryID=36&Lang=EN.

Statement by Bob Rae on behalf of Canada at the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly (2022, October 31). Retrieved on November 22, 2022, from https://estatements.unmeetings.org/estatements/11.0030/20221031/IoB1Hw211sv3/E9l0Gk2e71BE_en.pdf.  

UHRP. (2022, November 16). Forced Marriage of Uyghur Women: State Policies for Interethnic Marriages in East Turkistan. Uyghur Human Rights Project. Retrieved on November 22, 2022, from https://uhrp.org/report/forced-marriage-of-uyghur-women/

  1. (n.d.). Multinational Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General. United Nations Treaty Collection. Retrieved on November 22, 2022, from https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ParticipationStatus.aspx?clang=_en

UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. (2000, August 11). General Comment No. 14: The Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health (Art. 12 of the Covenant). E/C.12/2000/4. Retrieved on November 22, 2022, from https://www.refworld.org/docid/4538838d0.html

Worden, A.J., Setiwaldi, N., Anderson, E., Szadziewski, H., Greve, L., Carrdus, B. (2022, November 16). Forced Marriage of Uyghur Women: State Policies for Interethnic Marriages in East Turkistan. Uyghur Human Rights Project. Retrieved on November 22, 2022, from https://uhrp.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/UHRP-Forced-and-Incentivized-Marriages_2022-11-15.pdf