Studium Generale: The Uighurs as political prisoners

• Date: 10 February
• label.tijd 19:00 - 20:30
• Location: Nationaal Monument Oranjehotel, Den Haag

Lecture by Casper Wits, university lecturer in East Asian Studies at Leiden University

In the region known to the local population as East Turkestan and to the Chinese government as the province of Xinjiang, hundreds of thousands of Uighurs have been locked up in “re-education camps” since 2017. The Chinese government often cites “counterterrorism” as the official reason for this mass internment. In practice, it appears to involve the extrajudicial imprisonment of large groups of innocent people because of their ethnicity, and aimed at erasing their culture. The Chinese policy has therefore been labelled as genocide by, for example, the House of Representatives.

In this lecture, we will look in detail at the origins of this policy and the effect it has had on the lives of the Uighurs, and how their continued existence is threatened by it.

This lecture is organised in the context of the exhibition Freedom under pressure. Political Prisoners Then and Now in the NM Oranjehotel, in collaboration with Studium Generale Leiden University

Practical information:
Lecture date: Monday 10 February: 19:00 - 20:30
There are no costs associated with participation. However, you must reserve a free ticket.

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