Campaign for Uyghurs (CFU) is concerned about the total lockdown of East Turkistan (called the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region by China), as Chinese authorities impose increasingly stringent measures against the Uyghur and Turkic population as part of China’s Covid Zero policy.

According to the Chinese government, train travel to and from East Turkistan has been banned. There is also a reduction in flights and monitoring of highway travel. These new restrictions come as the CCP intensifies their Covid Zero policy. Uyghurs have been suffering under brutal lockdown measures which have held them in their home for weeks at a time, with no end in sight. Uyghurs have reportedly died while under lockdown. Images and videos shared by Uyghurs paint a desperate picture of their situation.

“The new restrictions imposed by the CCP against Uyghurs in East Turkistan will only continue to serve the regime’s intent of destroying Uyghurs and Turkic peoples,” CFU Executive Director Rushan Abbas said. “China must allow for independent investigators and cease their authoritarian lockdowns that have left Uyghurs dead.”

Without accurate news reporting from the region, the impact of the Covid Zero lockdowns are difficult to determine in full. These stricter measures leave Uyghurs more vulnerable than before, while China continues their systematic genocide of Uyghurs. CFU calls for an end to the harsh lockdowns that have taken Uyghur lives, and for unfettered access by investigators to determine the full extent of the Covid Zero policy and of the CCP’s crimes against humanity.