Last years leak of the Chinese Communist Party document to the New York Times offers a chilling glimpse into the 21st centuries largest system of internment camps. The Uighur Concentration camps are where millions of Muslim Uyghurs are being held in China, innocent people who are being kept against their will to be brainwashed, to weaken their attachment to the Islamic faith and ‘deradicalize’ them. Few outsiders accepted this implausible argument as this is an attempt at a "cultural cleansing" and it is morally and ethically wrong. So, in December 2019 Regional government chairman Shohrat Zakir told reporters those held in what Beijing say are "re-education camps" in Xinjiang had now "graduated". It is not possible to independently verify Mr Zakir's claims.
According to the report from the ASPI, there are strong indications that some 80,000 former detainees in Xinjiang have swapped one form of coercion for another, forced to work in factories that form part of the supply chains of at least 83 global brands including Abercrombie & Fitch, Adidas, Amazon, Apple, Google, H&M, Nike Tommy Hilfiger, Victoria’s Secret and more. Whilst detained they are tortured, forced to denounce themselves as Muslims, used as lab rats for human experiments. Survivor Sayragul Sauytbay testifies that ‘many of the inmates suffer from cognitive decline. Some of the men become sterile. Women are routinely raped’. If they do not comply to the rules that are set in place by the Chinese government, they are never seen again. This modern-day genocide has been reported to have gone on since 2017 with minimal media coverage. Do not turn a blind eye to what is happening. It is horrific and inhumane.
Written by Zahra Peer Mohamed
Media by Ben Hyland
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