Muslim groups boycott Hilton over bulldozed Xinjiang mosque

(RNS) – A coalition of more than 40 American Muslim groups is leading a global boycott of Hilton Hotels for their involvement in a hotel project in Xinjiang, China, where a Uyghur mosque was recently bulldozed to make way for the building.

At a press conference in front of the capital Hilton in Washington on September 16, representatives from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the World Uyghur Congress, the Uyghur Human Rights Project and other organizations said Hilton had ignored a one week deadline set by CAIR for the company to withdraw from the project in Xinjiang before the boycott begins.

“They have chosen to put profit over values, they have chosen to put their own bottom line over human rights and values,” said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The United States and a number of other governments around the world have labeled China’s treatment of the Uyghurs, a predominantly Muslim ethnic group native to Xinjiang, as genocide. In July, the bipartisan US Congressional Executive Commission on China published an open letter calling on Hilton to end the project.

TIED TOGETHER: Hilton Hotel is to be built on demolished Uighur mosque

“As a signatory to the UN Global Compact, Hilton has committed to support international human rights standards,” said a Commission statement in July. “In view of these promises, we ask Hilton to take steps to stop the construction, to otherwise distance itself and its brand from the hotel project in Hotan and to refuse complicity in the persecution of Uyghurs.”

The site of the leveled Duling Mosque in Hotan Prefecture in Xinjiang is being converted into a mixed-use facility by a Chinese developer. One of the new businesses planned for the location is a Hampton by Hilton hotel owned by Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. A sign on the construction site for the new hotel urged passers-by to “warmly celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party,” according to media reports.

TIED TOGETHER: As the naming of genocide turns into political football, Uighur activists are pushing for action

According to an analysis of satellite imagery and other data, according to an analysis by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, around 65% of the province’s mosques – around 16,000 – have been badly damaged or destroyed by Chinese authorities since 2017.

This designation indicates China’s incarceration of one million people in concentration camps. Uyghurs housed in the camps had to cope with torture, rape and forced sterilization. Although China initially denied their existence, China now says the camps are necessary to prevent extremism. The camps represent the largest incarceration of any ethnic group in concentration camps since World War II.