Tomomi Shimizu, a famous writer and illustrator in Japan, has produced a new manga booklet depicting the experiences of an ethnic Uzbek woman forced to teach Mandarin to Uyghur detainees in ‘re-education’ camps in China’s Xinjiang region, US-based non-profit news service, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported.
Shimizu has portrayed the experiences of female survivors of Xinjiang’s detention camps. The vast network of detention camps are believed to have held up to 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities.
Shimizu’s latest work focuses on Qelbinur Sidiq, 53, also known as Kalbinur Sidik, who taught Mandarin Chinese at an elementary school in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi for nearly three decades. Sidiq was in 2017, forced by Chinese authorities to teach Mandarin in Xinjiang’s “re-education” camp system.
As a result of the government campaign to suppress the birth rates of Muslim women in Xinjiang, Sidiq also underwent forced abortion and sterilization, according to RFA.
Shimizu released her latest work in December 2022 based on the testimony given by Sidiq at an independent people’s tribunal in London in 2021.
“I was shocked when I learned of the Uyghurs’ situation and thought it was important to let many people know of their situation to rescue the people in the [internment] camps. I also thought that if I illustrated their harsh experiences with easy-to-understand manga, the world would understand it better,” Shimizu said, as quoted by RFA.
Sidif experienced torture and rape at the two detention camps in Xinjiang. She testified about the same in June 2021. Her statements contradicted Beijing’s claims that the facilities were voluntary “vocational centres” where “students” were treated humanely.
The tribunal in December 2021, announced its findings that China committed genocide against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang.
Some 55 Uyghur organizations, recently, called on world leaders to recognize December 9 as Uyghur Genocide Recognition Day, reported Radio Free Asia (RFA).
Uyghur organizations from 20 countries asked global leaders to take action to end the Chinese government’s human rights atrocities against the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs
“By declaring this day as Uyghur Genocide Recognition Day, we want to draw the international community’s attention to this ongoing genocide. By commemorating the day, we want to mobilize countries, peoples and international organizations to stop the genocide,” the president of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), Dolkun Isa said.