Currently in China, Uighur muslims are being held in concentration camps and even more are being built. For years China has denied accusations of the camps existence however, recent images were released that proved otherwise. The images depict construction of new camps that include watchtowers and barbed wire. The Chinese government is referring to them as “re-education centers”. While the government says they are for the purpose of “re-educating” the Uighur muslims, it’s clear that is not the true intention.

The camps are in Xinjiang which is a region in Northwest China. Since 2017 more than 85 camps have been identified and at least 1 million Uighur muslims have been detained since then. Xinjiang is controlled by China and has been since 1949 when it was annexed. There are about 11 million Uighur muslims in Xinjiang and they speak 2 different dialects, standard Xinjiang and standard soviet. Standard Xinjiang is heavily influenced by Mandarin Chinese while Standard Soviet is mostly spoken in Kazakhstan, the neighboring country, because it was formerly part of the Soviet Union. Although Xinjiang is under the control of China, many Uighurs still refer to their homeland by its previous name “East Turkestan”.

The Chinese government had claimed that the Uighur have extremist views and in 2017 laws were passed that made it illegal for men to grow long beards and women from wearing veils. Mosques, places of worship for muslims, have been destroyed. Publically, they have portrayed the camps in a good light for training and re-education but previous detainees have described it as a “nightmare”.

An interview conducted by PBS brings forth two Uighur women that were previously detained. Gulzira, one of the women interviewed, said that there were cameras in the dormitories and in the classrooms. She went on to explain that if you were using the toilet for more than two minutes, you would be hit on the head with an electrical prod. Rahima, another woman that was interviewed, said that they were hit, beaten, and shouted at. She said that one of the Uighur women had “went mad” and some young Uighur men had committed suicide.

Although the US has condemned China for its actions at the U.N General Assembly calling it a “horrific campaign of repression”, 37 different countries defended China. They described it as “remarkable achievements in the field of human rights” by protecting their country from “terrorism, separatism, and religious extremism”. Among the 37 countries that supported China were Saudi Arabia, Egypt, an Qatar, which have a Muslim majority population. As of right now there have been no plans made to help the Uighur Muslims from other countries including the U.S.

Image Credit: Wikipedia / Colegota (CC BY-SA 2.5 ES)