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On the occasion of International Youth Day, Rahima Mahmut, Executive Director of Stop Uyghur Genocide, has raised concerns over the situation of Uyghur children, alleging that hundreds of thousands of children have been separated from their parents and placed in state-run boarding schools and live-in kindergartens.
In her message, Mahmut said that while International Youth Day celebrates the potential and dreams of young people, the dreams of many Uyghur children have been "stolen." According to Mahmut, the Chinese Communist Party had, as of 2019, separated up to 900,000 Uyghur children from their parents, placing them in state-run boarding schools and live-in kindergartens. She alleged that the children's culture, language and faith were being erased in the process. Mahmut further said that the current number of affected children was likely to be considerably higher. She also referred to footage showing Uyghur children between the ages of five and 11 being allegedly coerced into pledging loyalty to the Chinese military, while speaking in Mandarin rather than Uyghur. "This is not education. It is indoctrination," Mahmut said. Mahmut also alleged that some Uyghur children had been orphaned because both their parents were being held in political prison camps. She referred to what she described as a mass detention system estimated to imprison up to three million people. She further alleged that other children had lost their parents because of forced labour transfers. Mahmut also alleged that forced abortions and sterilisation targeting Uyghur women had prevented some children from being born. She described the situation as an effort to erase an entire people by targeting their youngest generation. According to Mahmut, the Chinese Communist Party seeks to break family bonds, replace parents with the state and strip away Uyghur identity until only loyalty to the Party remains. She said, "The CCP's goal is clear: replace the family with the Party." On International Youth Day, Mahmut called on the international community to stand with Uyghur youth and defend their right to live freely, grow up with their families, learn their own language and dream without fear. "The future belongs to them," Mahmut said, calling for a future based on dignity and freedom for Uyghur youth. (ANI)
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