China
Collecting DNA
According to a new Human Rights Watch report, Chinese authorities are collecting DNA samples, fingerprints, eye-scans, and blood types of millions of people aged 12 to 65 in the western region of Xinjiang. Xinjiang is home to over 11 million Uighurs, a Muslim Turkic minority and the region long been subject to tight controls and surveillance not experienced elsewhere in China. “The mandatory databanking of a whole population’s biodata, including DNA, is a gross violation of international human rights norms,” said Sophie Richardson from Human Rights Watch.
This map depicts the different ethnic groups in China. The Turkic population (orange) includes the Uighur, Kazakh and Kyrgyz groups. Click on the map to expand.
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