An Appeal from Uyghur Women Held Captive in Syria

An anonymous appeal from Syria says 2,840 Uyghur women and children are being held in detention camps under dire conditions.

Jan 15, 2022

Editor’s Note

This appeal was written by one Uyghur woman held captive in a detention camp in Syria and later widely circulated on Uyghur-language social media. For security reasons, the author remains anonymous. At her request, the text was translated and published by Uyghur Times as a record of the current reality facing Uyghur women and children in Syria.es stranded in Syria

We are approximately 540 Uyghur women and 2,300 children who are currently being held as prisoners of war by PKK forces in Syria. Our living conditions are extremely harsh, especially during the winter months. We suffer both mentally and physically. Many of us bear the آثار of abuse, and some among us have already died because of hunger, illness, lack of medical care, and exposure to severe weather.

We write this appeal to free countries and to international human rights organizations, asking for urgent help to bring us to a safe country.

Since 2012, thousands of Uyghurs fled East Turkistan to escape the cruelty, oppression, and genocide carried out by the Chinese government against our people. Many of us traveled through Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia before reaching Turkey. Along the way, many died, and their bodies were buried in unmarked graves. We believed that by reaching Turkey, our suffering had finally ended.

But instead, we were drawn into another tragedy that we never chose.

After arriving in Syria, we realized that reality was far different from our hopes and expectations. War tore our families apart. Many of our husbands and fathers were killed on the battlefields. We became widows, and our children became orphans. We were left with wounds that may never heal.

We, the women and children, are innocent victims of the Syrian civil war. We never carried weapons. We never joined military training. We came only because we followed our husbands and family members. After their deaths, we were captured and placed in detention camps. Some of our children were even born in these camps.

Today, we live in constant fear—especially of being deported to China, where we know we would face persecution, imprisonment, or worse.

Our children have no proper education. We try our best to teach them with what little we have, but in these conditions, it is impossible to give them a future. We do not want to see our children become the next victims of war, violence, and hatred.

We humbly ask the free nations of the world and all human rights organizations: please help us leave these camps and bring us to safety. Help our children grow up in peace. Help us reclaim our dignity and our lives.

Sincerely,
Uyghur women and children living as prisoners of war in Syria