Uighurs and other minorities in the Xinjiang region
of China are facing a systematic campaign to suppress births, according to one victim.
Rights advocates say ramped-up birth control
policies are part of a deliberate, state-backed attempt to suppress ethnic
minority births in Xinjiang.
Population growth has now dropped to zero – and
even below zero – in some minority-heavy Xinjiang counties, according to
government data.
Beijing – She was already beyond child-bearing age,
but Qelbinur Sedik says Chinese authorities still forcibly sterilised her, part
of what she describes as a systematic campaign to suppress births of Uighurs
and other minorities in the tense Xinjiang region.