‘No space to mourn’: the destruction of Uygur graveyards in Xinjiang
- Dozens of burial grounds have been cleared in the autonomous region in China’s far west in the last few years, according to a joint investigation
- Official explanations vary but activists say the efforts are part of a push to erode the ethnic group’s identity
Authorities in Xinjiang in China’s northwest are destroying burial grounds where generations of Uygur families have been laid to rest, leaving behind human bones and broken tombs in what activists call an effort to eradicate the ethnic group’s identity.
In just two years, dozens of cemeteries have been destroyed in the region, according to an AFP investigation with satellite imagery analysts Earthrise Alliance.
The analysis indicates that the government has exhumed and flattened at least 45 Uygur cemeteries since 2014 – 30 of them in the past two years.
And in September, AFP visited 13 destroyed cemeteries across four cities and saw bones in at least three sites.
The Xinjiang government did not respond to a request for comment.
The official explanation for cemetery removal or relocation varies by site.
In Urumqi, the regional capital, a cemetery near the international airport was cleared to make way for an urban “reconstruction” project.