KEY ISSUES
Since 2014 and the so-called “people’s war on terror”, the Chinese government has intensified its crackdown on Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang.
Under Xi Jinping’s leadership, these measures have resulted in severe human rights violations and can be broadly categorised into the following forms:
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Hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities are estimated to have been detained in “vocational training centres” across Xinjiang for “de-extremification” and “psychological and behavioural correction” purposes.
Many have been imprisoned on unknown charges and in closed proceedings, and in many cases little information is known on where they are incarcerated or how long their sentence is.
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In the name of combating religious extremism, inside the camps detainees are subjected to political indoctrination, forced to renounce their religion and culture and in some instances reportedly subjected to torture.
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Within re-education camps and detention facilities, detainees are reported to have been subject to torture and other cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, including sleep-deprivation, stress positions, prolonged restraints, forced medical examination and sexual assault.
Numerous deaths in detention or shortly after release from custody have been reported since 2018.
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Uyghur cultural and religious sites - some over a thousand years old - have been destroyed and places of worship repurposed or demolished. Uyghur religious expression and teaching of the Uyghur language have been heavily restricted.
Many influential figures in the Uyghur community - including academics, religious leaders, teachers and activists - have been imprisoned. Others have been detained for any kind of religious or cultural association, such as having long beards or owning religious materials.
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Some detention centres have been expanded to include on-site factories. As part of a “partnership assistance program”, Uyghurs are transferred out of Xinjiang to factories across China, in some cases directly from detention.
This forced labour has been linked to the supply chains of numerous well-known global brands across a variety of sectors, including Apple, BMW, Gap, Huawei, Nike, Samsung, Sony and Volkswagen.
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A centralised data collection system used by Xinjiang police uses artificial intelligence to identify people for questioning and potential detention.
Combined with an extensive CCTV network, internet monitoring, mobile phone GPS tracking, biometric scanning and increased numbers of on-the-ground security personnel, those not detained are subject to what local media in Xinjiang describe as “complete coverage without any chinks, blind spots, or blank spaces”.
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As a result of one or both parents being detained, families are being separated and children taken into state-run orphanages or full-time boarding school facilities.
Government incentives also encourage businesses to relocate detained or newly “re-educated” Uyghurs to work in factories across China, moving them out of Xinjiang and away from their families.
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As part of an ongoing drive to change the ethnic demographics of the region, government policies have encouraged the sterilisation of Uyghur women, with severe punishments in place for the violation of state-mandated birth control policies.
Women detained in “re-education” camps report being subjected to forced birth control and sterilisation procedures.