Xinjiang internment camps

Chinese internment camps in Xinjiang Chinese name Simplified Chinese 再教育 营 Traditional Chinese 再教育 營 The Xinjiang re-education camps , officially called Vocational Education and Training Centers by the government of the People's Republic of China , are internment camps that have been operated by the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region government for the purpose of indoctrinating Uyghurs and other Muslims since 2017 as part of a "people's war on terror" announced in 2014. The camps were established under General Secretary Xi Jinping 's administration and led by party secretary , Chen Quanguo . These camps are reportedly operated outside the legal system ; many Uyghurs have reportedly been interned without trial and no charges have been levied against them. Local authorities are reportedly holding hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs in these camps as well as members of other ethnic minority groups , for the stated purpose of countering extremism and terrorism and promoting Sinicization . As of 2018 , it was estimated that the Chinese authorities may have detained hundreds of thousands, perhaps a million, Uyghurs, Kazakhs , Kyrgyz and other ethnic Turkic Muslims , Christians as well as some foreign citizens such as Kazakhstanis , who are being held in these secretive internment camps which are located throughout the region. In May 2018, Randall Schriver of the United States Department of Defense repeated claims that "at least a million but likely closer to three million citizens" were imprisoned in detention centers in a strong condemnation of the "concentration camps". In August 2018, a United Nations human rights panel said that it had received many credible reports that 1 million ethnic Uyghurs in China have been held in "re-education camps". There have also been multiple reports by media outlets, politicians and researchers which compared the camps to the Chinese Cultural Revolution . In 2019, United Nations ambassadors from 22 nations, including Australia , Canada , France , Germany , Japan , and the United Kingdom signed a letter condemning China's mass detention of the Uyghurs and other minority groups, urging the Chinese government to close the camps. Conversely, a joint statement was signed by 50 states commending China's counter-terrorism program in Xinjiang, including Algeria , the DR Congo , Russia , Saudi Arabia , Syria , Iran , Iraq , Pakistan , North Korea , Egypt , Nigeria , the Philippines and Sudan . "Brainwashing, Police Guards and Coercive Internment: Evidence from Chinese Government Documents about the Nature and Extent of Xinjiang's "Vocational Training Internment Camps" " . Journal of Political Risk . 7 (7) . The New York Times . The New York Times . The Wall Street Journal . Center on U.S.-China Relations at Asia Society . "Muslims forced to drink alcohol and eat pork in China's're-education'camps, former inmate claims" . "現代集中營——來自新疆「再教育營」的證言" . 報導者 ( The Reporter ) (in Chinese (Taiwan)) . Senator for Florida, Marco Rubio . So Why Is China at It Again?" . The New York Times . Days after a group of 22 nations signed a letter addressed to the president of the UN Human Rights Council and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights calling on China to end its massive detention program in Xinjiang, a group of 37 countries submitted a similar letter in defense of China's policies.

Chinese prison camps in the Xinjiang region Xinjiang re-education camps Simplified Chinese 再教育 营 Traditional Chinese 再教育 營 The Xinjiang internment camps , officially called vocational education and training centers ( Chinese : 职业技能教育培训中心 ) by the government of China , are internment camps operated by the government of Xinjiang and the Chinese Communist Party Provincial Standing Committee . Human Rights Watch says that they have been used to indoctrinate Uyghurs and other Muslims since 2017 as part of a " people's war on terror ", a policy announced in 2014. The camps have been criticized by the governments of many countries and human rights organizations for alleged human rights abuses, including mistreatment, rape , and torture, with some of them alleging genocide . Some 40 countries around the world have called on China to respect the human rights of the Uyghur community, including countries such as Canada, Germany, Turkey, Honduras and Japan. The governments of more than 35 countries have expressed support for China's government. Xinjiang internment camps have been described as "the most extreme example of China's inhumane policies against Uighurs". The camps were established in 2017 by the administration of CCP general secretary Xi Jinping . Between 2017 and 2021 operations were led by Chen Quanguo , who was formerly a CCP Politburo member and the committee secretary who led the region's party committee and government. The camps are reportedly operated outside the Chinese legal system ; many Uyghurs have reportedly been interned without trial and no charges have been levied against them (held in administrative detention ). Local authorities are reportedly holding hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs in these camps as well as members of other ethnic minority groups in China , for the stated purpose of countering extremism and terrorism and promoting social integration . The internment of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in the camps constitutes the largest-scale arbitrary detention of ethnic and religious minorities since World War II . As of 2020 , it was estimated that Chinese authorities may have detained up to 1.8 million people, mostly Uyghurs but also including Kazakhs , Kyrgyz and other ethnic Turkic Muslims , Christians , as well as some foreign citizens including Kazakhstanis , in these secretive internment camps located throughout the region. According to Adrian Zenz , a major researcher on the camps, the mass internments peaked in 2018 and abated somewhat since then, with officials shifting focus towards forced labor programs. Other human rights activists and US officials have also noted a shifting of individuals from the camps into the formal penal system . In May 2018, Randall Schriver , US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs , said that "at least a million but likely closer to three million citizens" were imprisoned in detention centers, which he described as "concentration camps". In August 2018, Gay McDougall , a US representative at the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, said that the committee had received many credible reports that 1 million ethnic Uyghurs in China have been held in "re-education camps". There have been comparisons between the Xinjiang camps and the Chinese Cultural Revolution . In 2019, at the United Nations, 54 countries, including China itself, rejected the allegations and supported the Chinese government's policies in Xinjiang. In another letter, 23 countries shared the concerns in the committee's reports and called on China to uphold human rights. In September 2020, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) reported in its Xinjiang Data Project that construction of camps continued despite government claims that their function was winding down. In October 2020, it was reported that the total number of countries that denounced China increased to 39, while the total number of countries that defended China decreased to 45. Sixteen countries that defended China in 2019 did not do so in 2020. The New York Times . The New York Times . "Securitization, insecurity and conflict in contemporary Xinjiang: has PRC counter-terrorism evolved into state terror?" . Uncovering China's secret internment camps with Rian Thum" . It is the largest mass internment of an ethnic-religious minority group since World War II. 中华人民共和国 国务院新闻办公室 (18 March 2019). "Xinjiang de fankong, qu jiduanhua douzheng yu renquan baozhang" 新疆的反恐、去极端化斗争与人权保障 (in Chinese). "Xinjiang Weiwuer Zizhiqu qu jiduanhua tiaoli" 新疆维吾尔自治区去极端化条例 . The New York Times . "Statement by the Subcommittee on International Human Rights concerning the human rights situation of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang, China" . The Subcommittee heard that the Government of China has been employing various strategies to persecute Muslim groups living in Xinjiang, including mass detentions, forced labour , pervasive state surveillance and population control . Witnesses clearly stated that the Government of China's actions constitute a clear attempt to eradicate Uyghur culture and religion . Some witnesses also stated that the Government of China's actions meet the definition of genocide as it is set out in Article II of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide ( Genocide Convention ). Center on U.S.-China Relations at Asia Society . China has established a sprawling system to detain and incarcerate hundreds of thousands of Uighurs, Kazakhs, and other Muslim minorities, in what is already the largest-scale detention of ethnic and religious minorities since World War II. So Why Is China at It Again?" . The New York Times . "The "22 vs. 50" Diplomatic Split Between the West and China Over Xinjiang and Human Rights" . There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a template (see the help page ).