The Netherlands Press Council received a complaint from Erasmus MC about this article. On 11 July, the Council concluded that EM did not act with due care in the production of this article by not asking for the hearing of both sides before publication. Through this link you can read the full decision of the Press Council (Dutch only).
Investigate journalism platform Follow the Money found out that articles based on DNA research by Erasmus MC researcher Fan Liu, among others, were withdrawn from two journals. According to the journals, the researchers could not sufficiently demonstrate that the DNA samples, taken from Uyghurs, were collected on a voluntary basis.
In a comment to FTM, Erasmus MC said that it would not take any action against Liu, because the research was not commissioned by the university hospital itself. Liu conducted the research for the Beijing Institute of Genomics, where he works in addition to his part-time appointment as assistant professor at Eramsus MC.
Under the bus
Meryem completely fails to understand why the hospital doesn’t even plan a serious conversation with this researcher. “Erasmus MC actually said: we are not interested in what happens outside our building. If a policeman commits a burglary outside working hours, the police won’t say: it doesn’t matter, it happened off duty, would they?”
She says she is still proud to be a EUR student (‘Erasmus was an impressive historical figure’) and she sees the Netherlands as a country ‘in the frontline of humanitarian action’. “But surely it should not be so simple to throw the Uyghurs under the bus because of business interests? Every scientist should always act humanely, and that has not happened here.”
Already in 2019, The New York Times expressed suspicions that DNA had been taken involuntary from hundreds of Uyghurs. On the basis of DNA, facial reconstruction is possible, which, according to the newspaper, could be used for mass surveillance. For Meryem, it is clear that the samples were not taken voluntary. “We Uyghurs are never free. We are like lab animals, although I must say that the mice in a hospital lead a better life.”
Blood test
Ten years ago, health workers first came to the village where Meryem lived at the time. “They promised a blood test, so you could see if you had a condition,” she says. That sounded very enticing, because health care, she says, is very poorly regulated for Uyghurs in Xinjiang. “There are ‘agricultural hospitals’, where you get some of your costs reimbursed by the insurance. But the care there is very poor. If you want to go to a real hospital, you have to pay for the whole thing.”
So such a blood test sounded very attractive to her family members as well. “But I warned back then: they are not coming to help us. I said, don’t go!” That she now encounters results of similar research from a scientist at Erasmus MC, she finds ‘terrible’.
Meryem describes the situation of the Uyghurs as ‘worse than genocide’. “Every decade millions of people disappear. Every census comes up lower.” Family members suddenly disappear, probably to ‘re-education camps’, where, according to Amnesty International, among others, people are brainwashed and even tortured.
Forced abortion
According to Meryem, China has more methods to make Uyghur culture disappear. Children no longer learn the Uyghur language at school, but only Chinese. Women are forced to have abortions. “That is then called family planning, with a friendly name. You’ll get 200 euros if you have an abortion. Don’t do it? Then you go to jail.”
Han Chinese are lured to move to Xinjiang by advertisements featuring Uyghur actresses. “Then they get a free house, a guaranteed job and an Uyghur wife,” he says. The women get a financial reward if they accept the proposal, Meryem says. “If you want to say no, they say to you: do you think about your family?”
'Extremist'
The message from the Chinese government is clear: at the drop of a hat, Uyghurs are labelled ‘extremist’, literally, with a dot on their identity card. “If your name is Mohammed, for example, that can be enough to be accused of extremism. If you lock your front door, so that the security services can’t walk into your house uninvited. When you use the word ‘inshallah’ (‘God willing’, ed.) or any other Arabic term on the phone. Or if your sister doesn’t want to marry a Han Chinese.” Once you are an ‘extremist’, you can forget about life. Finding work, travelling, everything becomes nearly impossible.
The fact that Meryem studied in Europe also put her on the radar of the security services. “I was regularly interrogated during visits to China about who I was in contact with and what I was talking about. The attention of the security services led to Meryem being unable to have contact with her mother from 2017. “And that while I called her every day until then,” Meryem says with tears in her eyes. “It was heartbreaking.” Only since January this year very limited contact has been possible again, after her mother went to the police station to ask for permission to speak to her daughter. “Contacting my siblings directly is still forbidden”, Meryem says.
The fate of the Uyghurs has had a great impact on Meryem’s life. “I always live in fear, the fear that they will do something to my family. If my husband does not come home from shopping at the agreed time, I panic after only 15 minutes.” She has a Chinese fellow student. “I don’t know anything about this person, so I don’t know if this student spies on me. But I do think about it. My fears are actually getting worse.”
* Meryem’s name is fictitious in the interests of her and her family’s safety; her real name is known to the editors.
Erasmus MC’s response to the above article
Erasmus MC understands and regrets the anxiety that the Uyghur student (‘Meryem’) feels for the oppression of her family and her people in China. The media reports on the subject give cause to do so. Her personal experience will exacerbate this. But the suggestion that Erasmus MC is given to ‘throwing Uyghurs under the bus’ is absolutely misplaced.
Furthermore, contrary to what is stated in the article, a conversation did take place with the researcher concerned on this subject, but there was no reason to take any measures.
Erasmus MC conducts theoretical research into the genetics of human appearance as part of a global cooperative arrangement. This theoretical research, which uses genetic material from many thousands of people around the world, including Uyghurs, cannot possibly contribute to facial recognition. This is not the intention of the research, and its findings can in no way lead to the selection of minorities using DNA, nor does it concern recognising, suppressing and excluding Uighurs. Not at this time, and not in the immediate or foreseeable future. Moreover, it would go against our core values.
Erasmus MC has never used Uyghur datasets collected by institutions affiliated with the Chinese Ministry of Security or the Chinese police and disapproves of their use in research. Erasmus MC therefore questions the Uyghur samples from which the researcher, Dr Fan Liu, used genetic data in some publications, based on research he carried out as part of his main appointment at the Beijing Institute of Genomics Chinese Academy of Sciences (from which he has since resigned). Erasmus MC has not been involved with these studies and publications in any respect. As was customary at the time, Dr Fan Liu mentioned the name of Erasmus MC as his second affiliation because of his part-time position there.
The datasets that Erasmus MC used were collected by reputable academic institutions according to internationally accepted ethical guidelines, well before anything became known about the oppression of Uyghurs in China. Erasmus MC had access to the consent forms and the ethical approval forms, both the Chinese ones and the translated English versions. Even so, given the vulnerable position of Uyghurs in China and the sensitivity of the subject, Erasmus MC decided in early 2020 to no longer use Uyghur datasets for scientific research. This decision was not taken because we assume that the ethical rules of informed consent were breached at the time. We still believe that this was done with due care and according to applicable ethical and scientific standards.
This decision has consequences from a scientific point of view, because this population group will not be part of the theoretical research. As scientists, we make every effort to include all relevant ethnic groups so that the knowledge domain contains balanced and comprehensive information. A one-sided (i.e. Eurocentric) focus has been criticised in the past – and rightly so. But the distressing position that Uighurs in China find themselves in, and the social debate surrounding their situation, have compelled us to decide otherwise in this case.
The whole thing sounds like a story rather than fact. If you have the smoking gun, please show it. The ambiguous words, like “probably”, “I don’t know…but I do think”….they’re so misleading. If we don’t need to stick to the evidence in reporting the news, I can say I feel I’m spied by some people in my daily life, that make me live in fear forever. That could be another report.Stop writing the story! That’s not the way we should do.
I cannot agree more. Posting such story instead of reporting the fact from a more objective perspective is really shocking to me.
I am also shocked by the lack of professionalism in this article. No cross referencing, no double individual sources to verify, no voices from the opposite side. What is left is no more than a monolect. That looks really like a blog.
Agree..the whole report is so misleading without solid evidence.yet full of propaganda ..
Did she come really from Xinjiang? I only have one question. If everything she said is true, how did she get her passport from the Chinese government?
Thanks for bringing up this. Uyghur genocide is one of the most brutal, but still has not been put up on the level of that during WW2 and even recognition of this genocide is undermined by almost all countries.For those denying this, just try to go to Xinjiang, see what happens. Can you even go? If so, under what circumstances? Even a small brain and heart will do fine to successfully understand and acknowledge what is going on there. Worst rapes, tortures, murders, slavery of our time is there. Note: my dear chinese friends, please do not get offended because this is not at all a matter related to you as the chinese people, but a matter about your government, politicians, and supporters of the genocide.
Have you ever came to Xingjiang？if so，please tell the truth，if not，please go for a psychologist.
Hey, no one says genocide is right. NO it’s not. But what we are talking about is evidence here, does this article provide any solid evidences? No there isn’t, then people have very reason to call it FAKE NEWS, which can be very misleading.
One more thing, you basically call everyone who question the validity of the news “supporters of the genocide. The arrogance and ignorance convey in this short comment shocks me. Think for yourself, not be mislead by the media. Go learn sth.
To answer someone’s question “can you ever go”, did you ever use the internet? If you did, I don’t think you could ask this mean and stupid question.
Everyone with a valid Visa can always go to Xinjiang whenever they want to because the Covid issue has been controlled well in China, and thanks to the Chinese government that you blamed. It is indeed much better than your government. So why don’t you mind your own business in your country?
And if you insist on talking about the Chinese policy, have you ever been to China? Or to Xinjiang? Or did any research? Have you ever done any field investigation instead of only heard one unauthorized story from one single unknown person? Did you actually go to school to learn how to research? Do you know the importance of research and factual evidence? Do you dare to call yourself a senior editor and take responsibility for what you say?
And, it is really funny that people are free to go to China while the comments are not free to publish here.
I cannot agree more. The role of a journalist is not just to speak for one single voice, but to investigate, to hear more voices and to seek the truth.
I, too, always live in fear. The fear that fake stories will take over the truth of China and pointing at China would become some sort of political righteousness of western media. That would be so UGLY.
I understand that telling a story like this will make the person feel his/her existence real strong and spreading a story like this will attract a lot of views for Erasmus Magazine.
But PLEASE at least do some fact check or provide some evidence. Here are two examples:
1. Healthcare: out-of-pocket money has been reduced to less than 30% for Xinjiang according to the latest report of the 13th Five-Year Plan in China. While the average level of the whole population is 35.75% in 2018 according to the world bank.
2. Census are growing instead of dropping: Uygurs are growing much faster than Han in Xinjiang. From 2010 to 2018, the permanent resident population of Xinjiang increased from 21.8 million to 24.9 million, an increase of 14%. From the perspective of ethnic groups, the Uygur population increased from 10.17 million to 12.7 million, an increase of 25.04%; the population of Han ethnic group increased from 8.8 million to 9 million, an increase of 2%. The data from the national census of each and every time can be approached from the National Bureau of Statistics of China, or simply Wikipedia.
And some other stories from my Xinjiang friends. Yes, they do go to school, and they do learn Mandarin, but many are speaking local languages in daily life and the Mandarin for communicating with other areas. If you wonder why, you can thinking about why so many people learn English here in NL.
The interpretation of Human rights may differ based on the cultural context, but to quote one of the comments from a Muslim audience I see under a Xinjiang video on Youtube, “ ‘in Asia and in China particularly, human rights are about having a job, economic opportunity, access to education, healthcare, having… being safe in the streets.’ Well said. That’s all I want too.”
In March 2021, the Foreign Ministry of China said the United Nation is welcomed to visit Xinjiang. Additionally, China has invited the High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit Xinjiang. The two sides have been in communication all the time. The purpose of the visit is to promote exchanges and cooperation between the two sides, not to carry out the so-called investigation on the basis of guilt.
As a journalist/editor of the school magazine, please do your homework before publishing rather than copy-paste the statement of some “Meryem”.
When I was studying in Wuhan(from 2011), I had two college roommates from Xinjiang, one from city Korla and one from Aqsu. They were living just like me, nothing different, no one investigated or regulated them specifically. I remembered one was a big fan of the rock band live house near our university . The only difference was they had their own canteen. They took the whole class to have a dinner there once. I got many good memories with them. But after I went to Europe, I read from and was told by many sources that my impression about Uighurs were all fake, terrible things happened don’t be so blind… things like this… it’s just ridiculous… Making others look bad makes you better?
It is a sensational, provocative, catchy while misleading story. I deeply feel sorry for what Meryem has been suffering in her life. I am surprised that, a senior editor and professional journalist, is not being objective and listening to voices from various sides, to write such a story that is published on Erasmus University Magazine (or even to the public) without any cross-references, which are such a crucial element in modern journalism.
The whole piece of news is based on stories told by one single source, and there are no further statistics, figures, videos, reports etc. together with the article to make conclusions such as “Women are forced to have abortions.” “The message from the Chinese government is clear: at the drop of a hat, Uyghurs are labelled ‘extremist’, literally, with a dot on their identity card.”. I see no foundation for the author to make such strong statements without any scientific numbers, but purely based on a story.
If the whole article is based on a vividly-told story, at least it would look more professional if the article can have words indicating that what she said might not be true, is not verified, not representative, and is only a story. Moreover, it is also worth reporting stories in the same theme from someone else who might have different voices. Throughout the article, I only saw catchy headlines and sensational story-telling tactics, but no informative, scientific, professional spirits of journalism. I sincerely doubt the article is to mislead readers rather than inform the readers.
Both the editor and author should feel shame about writing / publishing this article. The whole narrative is based on the statement of a single student, under a fake name, with no way of verifying the truth. Assuming all that ‘s said is true here, this is no more than an opinion piece of one single person. Is EM all about sensationalism now? What’s worse (and shocking) is that, the article claims that a Chinese fellow student is a spy, simply because “Meryem” “don’t know anything about this person.”This labeling is both discriminatory and dangerous, not to mention that it comes out from a publisher related to a university. I hope this article will be pulled down from the site soon!
Dear Rand, please read carefully. Meryem doesn’t say her fellow student is spying on her. She doesn’t know. Because of increasing fear however, she starts to become paranoid though, even if she doesn’t know at all.
For everyone who is stating that the abovementioned is a ”story”, is not based on ”facts”, please read the following reports (WITH resources):
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/evidence-of-china-uyghur-genocide-by-irwin-cotler-and-yonah-diamond-2021-06
https://www.science.org/content/article/there-s-no-hope-rest-us-uyghur-scientists-swept-china-s-massive-detentions
Last but not least:
China even succeeded to commit illegal organ harvesting:
https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=27167
Please stop denying the humiliation, the pain, inhumanities and genocide. This genocide is real, cruel and above all, inhumane. Denying it, solely demonstrates thoughtless and merciless obedience.
Comments are closed.