Australian lawmakers have formed a parliamentary group that aims to provide ethnic Uyghurs with a forum to voice their concerns about Beijing’s efforts to infiltrate their society and the persecution they endure in their homeland of Xinjiang, in western China.
The Australian All-Party Parliamentary Group for Uyghurs, or AAPPGU, was formally established by MPs on Tuesday during a ceremony and discussion event in Canberra’s Australian Parliament House. The Australian Uyghur Tangritagh Women’s Association, or AUTWA, and the group’s co-chairs, MPs Tony Zappia and Andrew Wallace, co-hosted the event.
Zappia spoke at the event and referred to the AAPPGU’s creation as a significant step for the Uyghur population worldwide. “It will give voice to Uyghur people here in Australia as well as all of those back in the homeland,” he said, referring to China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
Chinese authorities have been ruthlessly suppressing Uyghurs and other Turkic groups in Xinjiang for almost ten years, placing an estimated 1.8 million of them in concentration camps. China has been accused by nations with substantial Uyghur exile communities of forcing its citizens to spy on one another while routinely keeping an eye on politically engaged individuals.
MP Fatima Payman, who was instrumental in the group’s formation, said that it will enable Australia’s government to adopt a more assertive position on the Uyghur problem
“We need to acknowledge that this genocide has been going on for too long,” Fatima said. “We need to elevate their voices in our senate, in our Parliament, and make sure, with all the atrocities and the chaos that’s taken place around the world, that the Uyghurs are not forgotten”
