Genocide and Mass Atrocities in China, Myanmar, and Ethiopia

By Andrew Quist

As scholar and diplomat Samantha Power pointed out in her book “A Problem from Hell”: America and the Age of Genocide, Americans and others have too often turned a blind eye to genocides and mass atrocities. This is for many reasons, and one of them is psychological: while humans are capable of feeling tremendous empathy for one identified victim, we are emotionally indifferent to statistical deaths, a phenomenon called psychic numbing.

If we truly value human life, we should pay attention to suffering overseas and convey our concern to policymakers. With this is mind, here is information on a genocide and mass atrocities occurring right now across the world.

China

The Communist Party of China is engaged in an ongoing genocide against the Uyghur people, a Muslim ethnic minority in the Xinjiang province in northwest China. More than 1 million Uyghurs have been forced into concentration camps where they have been victims of rape, torture, and brainwashing.

BBC News recently published a report that documents first-hand accounts of abuse Uyghurs have suffered at the hands of the CPP. The witnesses detail instances of systematic rape, sexual abuse, and torture. You can read the report here.

The Arithmetic of Compassion also published a report on torture and forced-organ harvesting of prisoners of conscience in China, including the Uyghurs. The Arithmetic of Compassion report is available here.

Myanmar

The military seized control of Myanmar in a coup d'état on February 1, 2021, overthrowing the democratically elected government. The coup triggered mass protests across the country, and the junta has responded with violence. On February 28, military forces opened fire on crowds of hundreds of peaceful protesters, killing 18 people and wounding more than 50 more. A report of the attacks is available in The New York Times here.

Ethiopia

A humanitarian crisis is unfolding in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Eritrean and Ethiopian forces are killing and raping civilians and looting their property. CNN recently published a shocking report of a massacre of more than 100 civilians in a single village in the mountains. These victims are only some of the thousands of civilians who have been killed since Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched a military offense in the Tigray region, assisted by neighboring country Eritrea.

These are examples of some of the ongoing atrocities occurring in 2021. I encourage you to contact your representative, let them know you care about foreign lives, and voice your concern for the victims of these tragedies.