The Chinese government has been accused of threatening the Uyghur Exiles. It has been accused of committing genocide against the minority Muslim ethnic groups in the region of Xinjiang. This ethnic group has a language of their own which is similar to Turkish but the Uyghurs view themselves closer to the Central Asian nations. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was informed by the activists & refugees about the Chinese authorities using various tactics to control the Uyghurs who reside in Xinjiang, that lies in the north-west of China as well as those who live abroad. It is reported that they have detained almost more than a million Uyghurs in an internment camp in China.
 One of the tactics they use to ensure that this community adheres and complies with their rules is by attempting at severing the family ties. Phone calls are not picked up by those residing in China and they are not willing to communicate with their family members who are residing abroad with the sole fear of their calls getting recorded and monitored by the Chinese authorities which will put both of the parties at risk.
On the other hand, members living abroad in countries like Turkey, UK, Australia, etc are subjected to transnational repression where they are offered money, threatened against harming their family members or offered the chance to communicate and meet their family members in exchange for working as a spy. The Chinese government requests these members to attend the meetings by the Uyghur human rights activists while working as a spy by giving out the details of the attendees of these meetings.Â
Dr. David Tobin along with his colleague Nyrola Elima of University of Sheffield, England have surveyed more than 200 Uyghur exiles residing in various countries and found out that all these members are victims of transnational repression. According to Mr. Abudrehim Parac who had fled China and arrived in Istanbul in the year 2014, Turkey was believed to be the ‘safe haven’ for Uyghurs but recently this positive scenario has also changed where now almost 80% out of the 148 respondents interviewed by Dr Tobin reported of receiving similar threats from China. The people are asked to spy on each other while living in the country and this affects their sense of brotherhood within the community.
Mr. Abudurehim is of the view that this is resulting in youngsters trying to maintain a safe distance from the Uyghur activist meetings so as to stay safe from such threats and issues which ultimately proves as a boon for China. However, the US government has been involved in taking the necessary steps to address these issues openly. It recently introduced the ‘Transnational Repression Policy Act‘ in March of this year. This would help curb the monitoring and recording of the phone calls along with the fear of receiving threats over maintaining contacts with their families residing in China.Â
The activists belonging to the Uyghur community fear that their culture is under threat. The government of China has been accused of targeting these minority Muslim-ethnic groups by targeting their religious practices and by also destroying mosques and tombs in Xinjiang.
