{"id":608,"date":"2020-08-05T07:26:04","date_gmt":"2020-08-05T07:26:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saveuighur.org\/?p=608"},"modified":"2020-08-26T03:49:25","modified_gmt":"2020-08-26T03:49:25","slug":"uhrp-report-weaponized-passports-the-crisis-of-uyghur-statelessness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saveuighur.org\/ug\/uhrp-report-weaponized-passports-the-crisis-of-uyghur-statelessness\/","title":{"rendered":"UHRP Report \u2014Weaponized Passports: The Crisis of Uyghur Statelessness"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following is taken from an Uyghur Human Rights Project press release<\/a> on April 1, 2020. Contact: Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) +1 (202) 790-1795, +1 (703) 217-7266<\/em><\/p>\n

UHRP\u2019s new report, \u201cWeaponized\u00a0Passports: The Crisis of Uyghur Statelessness<\/a>,\u201d documents an ongoing and worsening issue facing Uyghurs abroad, namely refusal to renew passports and denial of access to other documentation by the Chinese government.<\/p>\n

For several years, Uyghurs have been unable to renew their passports at Chinese embassies and consulates as other P.R.C. citizens are able to do.\u00a0 Instead, Chinese embassy officials destroy their existing passports and replace them with one-way travel documents in order to force them to return, where they face extrajudicial detention or imprisonment.<\/p>\n

For years Uyghurs have faced obstacles in obtaining the documentation allowing them to travel abroad, a violation of their \u201cright to leave,\u201d as inscribed in international law. While in the past, Uyghurs would have to pay enormous bribes required to obtain a passport and had them frequently confiscated by the authorities, in recent years even applying for a passport and not traveling abroad has become\u00a0grounds for being sent to a concentration camp.<\/p>\n

Uyghurs are now effectively denied the right to a passport and have their freedom of movement denied both in their homeland and abroad. Lack of documentation impacts the livelihoods, marriages, living situations, and educations of Uyghurs abroad, and places them at elevated risk of refoulment.<\/p>\n

\u201cInternational law is clear: the right to leave one\u2019s country is a fundamental right,\u201d said UHRP Executive Director Omer Kanat. \u201cIt is yet one more right Uyghurs are denied on the basis of their ethnicity. The international community must recognize the enormous danger being undocumented places Uyghurs in, and take steps to mitigate it. There are immediate actions they can take to help Uyghurs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inability to obtain passport renewals and other documentation adds immeasurably to the difficulties faced by Uyghurs abroad, and threatens them with the possibility of becoming a stateless person.\u00a0 As more and more Uyghurs\u2019 passports expire, this could become a full-blown crisis without action by the international community.\u00a0 Individual states can take immediate action to alleviate the situation ensuring that Uyghurs residing in their country are granted legal status and documentation and access to public services such as schools in a timely manner.<\/p>\n

\u201cWeaponized\u00a0Passports: The Crisis of Uyghur Statelessness<\/a>\u201d features first person interviews with Uyghurs affected by denial of documentation, an overview of media reports on the issue and recommendations for nations and international institutions on how to address the issue.\u00a0 Their recommendations include:<\/p>\n