Kulturkampf

[Potato]

Inherent disregard.

How are those human rights going in *checks notes* Qatar and UAE?

Qatar hosted the 2022 FIFA World Cup between November and December 2022. The tournament brought a new level of global scrutiny to the serious abuses that migrant workers face in the country. Authorities have introduced several labor reforms, especially since 2018, yet the benefits of these reforms were limited by their narrow scope, late introduction, and poor enforcement. Qatari laws continue to discriminate against women and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals.

In 2022, United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities introduced amendments to a wide range of laws yet continued an alarming campaign of repression and censorship against dissidents.

The UAE has expanded its surveillance capabilities, both online and through drone surveillance in public spaces. UAE authorities continue to block representatives of international human rights organizations and United Nations experts from conducting in-country research and visiting prisons and detention facilities. Local news sites exercise self-censorship, and journalists face tremendous limitations in their work. Expo 2020 took place in Dubai from October 1, 2021, to March 31, 2022, after it was postponed due to Covid-19.

Maybe China is doing better. Their vote indicates they love religious freedom, and I expect they are especially respectful of their Muslim minorities...

Xinjiang
In December 2021, authorities replaced Xinjiang’s party secretary, Chen Quanguo, who oversaw the region’s repressive “Strike Hard Campaign against Violent Terrorism,” with Ma Xingrui, a technocrat experienced in governing wealthier coastal regions. In July, President Xi visited Xinjiang, and said that while the region must “maintain a firm grip on stability,” it should also “move towards prosperity.”

Despite government propaganda portraying its policies in the region as successful efforts to counter terrorism, international scrutiny of crimes against humanity in the region grew. In May, an anonymous source released hacked police files from the region, which included nearly 3,000 photos of Uyghur detainees, along with key policy documents outlining harsh policies from China’s top leadership. As many as a million people were wrongfully detained in political education camps, pretrial detention centers, and prisons at the height of the Strike Hard Campaign. While some have been released, the Chinese authorities have also sentenced an estimated half-million people, many of whom remain imprisoned, Human Rights Watch found in a September report.

Tibet
Authorities in Tibetan areas continue to enforce severe restrictions on freedoms of religion, expression, movement, and assembly. Popular concerns over issues such as mass relocation, environmental degradation, or the phasing out of the Tibetan language in primary education were met with repression. Local officials are required to educate the public in “obeying the law,” and cash rewards are offered to citizens prepared to inform on others.

Under intense censorship, Tibetans continue to be detained for online offenses, such as having banned content on their phones or “spreading rumors.” Authorities introduced a ban on posting religious teaching and other content online, intended to enforce tight official control over religious institutions and teachers. In a Tibetan area of Sichuan province, regional authorities ordered the demolition of outdoor statues and temples, the construction of which had initially been approved.

Reports emerged of the arrest and sentencing of Tibetan religious and cultural figures suspected of dissent, and of their mistreatment in detention—notably the writers Go Sherab Gyatso, Rongwo Gendun Lhundrup, and Tubten Lodro (alias Sabuchey). In March, the popular young pop singer Tsewang Norbu staged a self-immolation protest in front of the Potala Palace, the first by a Tibetan from an urban background.

Freedom of Religion
State control over religion has increased since 2016, when Xi called for “Sinicization” of religions. Going beyond controlling religion by dictating what constitutes “normal,” and therefore legal, religious activity, authorities now seek to comprehensively reshape religions such that they are consistent with the party’s ideology and that they help promote allegiance to the party and to Xi.

Police continue to harass, arrest, and imprison leaders and members of “house churches,” congregations that refuse to join official Catholic and Protestant churches. Authorities also disrupt their peaceful activities and ban them outright. In September, dozens of members of a Shenzhen church fled to Thailand to seek refuge after having left China three years ago due to escalating police harassment and after they failed to secure refugee status in South Korea. The group reported being monitored by Chinese government agents in Thailand.

The new Measures on the Administration of Internet Religious Information Services came into effect in March, prohibiting individuals or groups from teaching or otherwise propagating religion online without official approval. A widely used Catholic app, CathAssist, shut down in August because it was unable to obtain a license. The regulations have reportedly severely disrupted people’s religious life as many have increasingly relied on online religious gatherings and information especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In October 2022, the Vatican and the Chinese government renewed an agreement signed in 2018. It was renewed despite the Chinese government’s arrest of Cardinal Joseph Zen and the continued detentions of Bishops Zhang Weizhu and Cui Tai, among others.