In Xinjiang, an autonomous region in china, there are currently over one million Uiguhrs interned in more than 85 camps. The construction of these camps supposedly happened in 2017 and was denied for years by the government until images finally came out of barbed wire fences and watch towers. The government acknowledged what they called “re-education centers”, however, many of the prisoners were detained, beaten, and interrogated simply because of their religion. The prisoners were detained because of their religion and looks, some because of their long beards. The Muslim’s that are locked up in these “education” camps are the same subaltern people who are silenced, stripped of their voice and beliefs, and told what they are forced to believe. They do not have a voice in these camps, they are told what to believe by the Chinese government and forced to believe it. This is much further than just systemic injustice, it violates everything that the world has worked so hard to prevent and repair after the holocaust. The imprisonment and torture of this selected group of people simply because of their religion is disgusting, especially in today’s day in age. The response by the world has been present, but coverage and acknowledgement has been quite lacking. It didn’t even become apparent to me until recently, and after doing more research I found that I’m not the only one late to find out. I also looked more into the response by the world and was greatly disappointed, 37 countries backed China saying that they had remarkable achievements in the field of human rights, and the lack of action from the UN and countries around the world uncovers the fact that we may have made progress, it is no where near what needs to be done. Something so unjust and terrible should not be happening after the history that the world has been through.
Here is a photo of the up close layout of the camps that have been created, in the deserts and hidden away.
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The BBC wrote a good piece about how the Chinese government had gone about constructing these camps, where they did, and the change of the landscape over the years that they were building it. They actually had cars trying to go and film driving by the camps, but were followed and finally stopped before they could go any further. The satellite images taken reveal just how quickly these buildings were erected, and how far out they are trying to go to hide them.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/China_hidden_camps