Deusdedit Ruhangariyo
Special to ICT
Around the world: Advocacy group says tourism encourages injustices against Uyghurs, Māori people face hurdles finding secure housing after release from prison, a food sovereignty summit calls for sustainable farming in the Congo, and First Nations police investigate sex-trafficking allegations in Manitoba
CHINA: Uyghurs targeted for offensive ‘genocide tours’
The U.S.-based Uyghur Human Rights Project is urging Western travel agencies to stop promoting tours to China’s Xinjiang region, saying it inadvertently endorses Beijing’s oppression of the Uyghur Muslim population, Radio Free Asia reported on Sept. 5.
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The advocacy group released a report, “Genocide Tours,” on Aug. 30 that identifies seven Western travel companies that offer itineraries that include stops in Urumqi, Turpan, and Kashgar. The tours also encompass visits to Uyghur homes, which families often cannot decline due to the pervasive state control in the region, according to the report.
“Travel companies have no business in running tours to sites of ongoing atrocities,” said Omer Kanat, executive director of the Uyghur Human Rights Project, Washington, D.C., according to Radio Free Asia.
“Nobody would have dreamed of taking tourists into Rwanda, Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, or Darfur in the midst of the horrors in these places. The same should apply to East Turkistan,” he said, using the Uyghurs’ preferred name, meaning “New Territory” in Mandarin, for Xinjiang.
The travel companies are headquartered in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. Among the firms identified in the report are Abercrombie & Kent, Bamboo Travel, Geographical Expeditions, Goway Travel, Intrepid Travel, Laurus Travel, and Wild Frontiers, the latter also operating under the name Myths and Mountains, Radio Free Asia reported.
Human rights organizations, the U.S. government, and several Western parliaments have officially classified the Chinese government’s actions towards the Uyghurs as genocide or crimes against humanity. A 2022 report from the United Nation’s human rights office indicated the treatment of Uyghurs may constitute crimes against humanity.
About 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities have been detained in camps and prisons, with reports of torture, forced sterilizations of women, coerced labor, suppression of religious beliefs and expressions, and the deliberate erasure of cultural heritage. China has consistently denied allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
NEW ZEALAND: Māoris need housing after release from prison
Incarcerated Māori people are nearly twice as likely to face housing instability when released from prison as non-Māori prisoners, according to a recent study reported by Te Ao Māori News on Sept. 7.
The study, conducted by the University of Auckland in New Zealand, underscores the importance of providing stable housing for individuals re-entering society in order to address the increasing rates of reoffending, said Associate Professor Alice Mills, according to Te Ao Māori News.
Data from the corrections department indicates that fewer than half of released prisoners secure long-term housing, and 60 percent of them will receive new sentences within two years of their release.
“No one should leave prison without stable housing if we want to reduce rates of recidivism,” Mills said. “We can’t afford as a society not to do this. Recidivism has a high human and economic cost in New Zealand, which is why everyone who enters prison, regardless of their status, should be given a detailed housing needs assessment, which should be maintained and updated throughout their stay.”
The study reviewed the cases of more than 200 former prisoners, more than half of whom encountered challenges finding secure housing upon release. Māori individuals faced 2.4 times more difficulty than their non-Māori counterparts.
“This is likely to reflect the difficulties faced by Māori in wider society, including racism and discrimination in rental housing markets, and demonstrates the need for specialist housing support and provision for Māori leaving prison,” Mills said.
Mills is advocating for an increase in housing placements that offer offer residents privacy, permanency, and a sense of control over their environment.
CONGO: Food sovereignty summit seeks reforms
More than 200 advocates of agro-ecology convened in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in late August, urging greater government and developer support for sustainable farming in Central Africa, Mongabay reported on Sept. 7.
Polydor Musafiri, an Indigenous Murega from the eastern Congo who participated in an Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa forum, lamented the impact of deforestation and land sales on his community’s subsistence.
Musafiri, who lives near Bukavu, cultivates amaranth, maize and tomatoes, and relies on foraged forest food, including caterpillars, integral to their culture’s nutrition.
“These caterpillars are found in large trees such as milanga and musela,” Musafiri said. “But these trees have almost disappeared.”
The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa forum, which gathered Aug. 29-31, united small-scale farmers, fishers, pastoralists, donors, and civil society groups from across Africa to urge a shift in food production and agricultural policy within the Congo Basin.
The alliance advocates for small-scale farmers and Indigenous communities, utilizing heirloom seeds and integrating Indigenous wisdom with scientific research to establish nature-reliant food systems, Mongabay reported.
The conclusion of the Kinshasa conference yielded a declaration urging governments to bolster policies concerning conservation, climate change, and sustainable development while emphasizing their effective implementation, Mongabay reported.
It also included a declaration advocating for the recognition and safeguarding of Indigenous and local land rights, women’s active involvement in resource management and conservation, and investments in agro-ecological training and market-access infrastructure for sustainable goods.
CANADA: Workers accused of assaulting Indigenous girl
The Manitoba First Nations Police Service is investigating accusations of sexual exploitation of an underage Indigenous girl by construction workers building a water treatment plant within Sandy Bay Ojibway Nation, APTN News reported on Sept. 7.
Inspector Jason Colon stated that the police were alerted to potential sexual offenses involving a minor on Aug. 23 by a relative, and “immediately commenced an investigation.”
Alaya McIvor, a member of Sandy Bay and an advocate in Winnipeg, Manitoba, for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, said she became aware of the allegations during a recent visit to the community and through an online group, APTN reported.
She said that the young Indigenous woman had been “sex trafficked” by construction workers working on the plant in Sandy Bay, north of Winnipeg, and that the workers had been ordered to leave the community by the chief and council in early September.
In a Facebook post shared with APTN, McIvor said workers from off the reserve held the child hostage and made videos and photos of sexual assaults. She said she had not seen the evidence but said the chief and council had knowledge of them.
A spokesperson for Penn-Co, a construction company headquartered in southern Manitoba, confirmed that the employees were instructed to leave the community by the band council.
Rick Penner, the company’s vice president of human resources, said the company had been “at the tail end” of constructing the new water treatment plant in Sandy Bay, following a successful bid on a federal government tender and commencement of work in 2021.
He said the employees were living in the community, although he was not familiar with some of the names provided to the company.
My final thoughts
My final thoughts are in New Zealand, where a recently released report from the University of Auckland has shed light on a concerning issue. The study revealed that Māori prisoners, after their release, are nearly twice as likely to encounter unstable housing situations compared to their non-Māori counterparts.
This glaring disparity in housing stability between Māori and non-Māori ex-prisoners underscores a deeply troubling and persistent issue. It not only highlights the systemic inequalities that Māori communities face but also the inadequacies within the criminal justice and social support systems.
I would therefore urge all stakeholders to address this significant and unjust gap in housing stability urgently.
Stakeholders need to address the broader systemic issues contributing to Māori overrepresentation in the justice system by providing education and employment opportunities that can reduce the likelihood of re-offending and improve housing prospects.
And they need to ensure that all professionals working with ex-prisoners, including those in housing and social services, receive cultural competency training to better understand and meet the needs of Māori individuals.
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