A new Human Rights Watch (HRW) report has shown how the Chinese government is significantly reducing the number of mosques in its Ningxia and Gansu provinces, a violation of the right to freedom of religion.
Findings
As part of the “mosque consolidation” policy, the Xi Jinping administration has “decommissioned, closed down, demolished, and converted” mosques for “secular use,” in order to “restrict the practice of Islam.” Authorities have also been erasing distinct features of Islamic architecture, such as domes and minarets, from many other mosques.
Comments from HRW
Maya Wang, HRW’s acting China director, said that the government is not ‘consolidating’ mosques as it claims, “but closing many down in violation of religious freedom.” “The Chinese government’s closure, destruction, and repurposing of mosques is part of a systematic effort to curb the practice of Islam in China,” she stated.
Based on information from Hannah Theaker, an expert on Chinese Muslims, the BBC reported that since 2020, almost 1,300 mosques in Ningxia have been closed or converted.
“The Chinese government’s policies of Sinicization show a blanket disregard for freedom of religion not only of all Muslims in China, but all religious communities in the country,” Wang added.
As Beijing speaks out for Palestine, China is closing and demolishing hundreds of mosques, "as part of the government’s efforts to restrict the practice of Islam." important new report from Human Rights Watch. https://t.co/cfTuTORjUn
— Isaac Stone Fish (@isaacstonefish) November 22, 2023
She suggested that “governments concerned about religious freedom should raise these issues directly with the Chinese government and at the United Nations and other international forums.”
Background
According to Chinese law, people are only allowed to practice in officially approved places of worship of officially approved religions. Moreover, authorities exercise strict control over houses of worship.
In 2016, President Xi Jinping called for the “Sinicization” of religions, which aims to ensure that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) becomes the arbiter of people’s spiritual life and thus state control over religion has strengthened.
Religious Erasure in Xinjiang
Through various intelligence reports, it is widely believed that over one million Uighur Muslims and other Muslim minorities are detained in over 85 camps across China’s Xinjiang autonomous region.
Beijing has been accused of numerous crimes against ethnic and religious minorities in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, including setting up a mass detention and surveillance system and subjecting Muslims to forced labour, birth control, sterilisation, and marriages, as well as torture.
The international community has decried China’s actions in Xinjiang as genocide, with the US even imposing sanctions against senior Chinese officials for their involvement in human rights abuses.