Xinjiang Re-education Camps for Uyghurs
Why are Uyghurs getting held against their will at so-called "hell camps" in China? This topic is often shoved away even though what is happening is terrible and is getting worse by the minute. Uyghurs are Turkic speaking Muslims who are from Central/Eastern Asia. The largest population of Uyghurs is in the Xinjiang region, which is in Western China.
The Population of Uyghurs around the world
There are estimated to be over 1 million people in China over all these hundreds of re-education camps. Some sources, such as economic times, even think that there are over 3 million people in these re-education camps, but this is very extreme. The actual number is probably much closer to 1 million. These camps have existed since mid-2017 and are still running. There are about 400 camps around China, and the numbers are growing rapidly. The communist political party builds these camps in China. Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Tajiks, Kyrgyz, and Hui are very often Uyghurs. There are estimated to be 12.1 million Uyghurs in China.
These camps are in China's desert in the West, so it's tough to get there. That's one reason why there are fewer reports of this as it is somewhere hard to access. It is also why there are only satellite images of these camps except very few photos and some videos.
The highlighted area is where the camps are placed.
The Chinese target Uyghurs as they have had many conflicts with that culture during the past 20 years. One example of this conflict is that in 2009 there was a terrorist attack on the Han Chinese in Xinjiang that left 200 dead. The government then blamed the Uyghur Muslims for the attacks. This is only one of the many examples of things that the Chinese government pinned on the Uyghurs.
Activists say Uyghur commercial and cultural activities have been gradually curtailed by the Chinese state. There are complaints of severe restrictions on Islam, with fewer mosques and strict control over religious schools.
Rights group Amnesty International, in a report published in 2013, said authorities criminalized "what they labelled 'illegal religious' and 'separatist' activities" and clamped down on "peaceful expressions of cultural identity."
In July 2014, some Xinjiang government departments during the holy month of Ramadan. It was not the first time China had restricted fasting in Xinjiang, but it followed a slew of attacks on the public attributed to Uighur extremists, prompting concerns the ban would increase tensions. These are only very few examples of why Uyghurs are targeted
Experiences in the camps
There are few descriptions of the camps as few people would like to share their experiences with the camps or in the camps, but there are many family members of people who got captured who speak out about it. One of the BBC interviewed escapees said: "I felt just spent seven days in hell." Another escapee interviewed by CBS described their experience in the camps as horrific and traumatizing. There are videos of people getting beaten and spat on by guards, which gives you a sense of how horrible they are.
How these camps work
According to the BBC, the government and employees at these camps have a memo that includes orders to:
"Never allow escapes"
"Increase discipline and punishment of behavioral violations"
"Promote repentance and confession"
"Make remedial Mandarin studies the top priority"
"Encourage students to truly transform”
"full video surveillance coverage of dormitories and classrooms free of blind spots"
I was eager to get additional information about this topic from a close source, so I emailed Ms. Lewandowski, a Middle School Social Studies teacher, who previously lived in China, and this is what she had to say when I interviewed her: "China has denied many claims of these re-education camps being true but satellite images show different" This is also backed up by the BBC who in an article wrote, "The Chinese government says the camps are voluntary for re-education."
The BBC also leaked the Chinese government's documents about the camps. The documents reveal how every aspect of a detainee's life is monitored and controlled: "The students should have a fixed bed position, fixed queue position, fixed classroom seat, and fixed station during skills work, and it is strictly forbidden for this to be changed."
"Implement behavioral norms and discipline requirements for getting up, roll call, washing, going to the toilet, organizing and housekeeping, eating, studying, sleeping, closing the door, and so forth."
A rare photo from inside one of these camps
“How are people going to stand up and say something when they know the history of what happens to people who question things in China?”
-Ms. Lewandowski
"How are people going to stand up and say something when they know the history of what happens to people who question things in China?" said Ms. Lewandowski. People don't take action as they are terrified. Very few people have shared their experiences about these camps as they are scared of what will happen to them. Many people who haven't been in the camp share how long they haven't seen family members or share experiences of how family members disappeared.
These re-education camps are a secret to China's public as many things from the outside world are. When I interviewed Ms. Lewandowski, she also said: "I had to use a VPN to access Facebook and Gmail, and even for that, I needed a Foreign Credit Card." "In China, people do not have many places where they can get Journalism from foreign countries. It is very shut out because the government doesn't like it when people write about bad things in China that aren't supposed to be public.
In conclusion, these are some of the reasons Uyghur Muslims are being captured and held at "hell camps." There is violence involved in what they call "re-educating," as seen in Videos on the internet from inside the camps. As I've said many times before, the Chinese government also denies these claims, which is proven wrong by escapee's satellite images, etc. This has been happening for years and will keep going unless governments stop it and unite to go against the Chinese Communist Political Party.
Sources and links for further reading:
https://fr.reuters.com/article/us-usa-china-concentrationcamps-idUSKCN1S925K https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-50511063 https://www.pbs.org/newshour/features/uighurs/ https://www.vox.com/2020/7/28/21333345/uighurs-china-internment-camps-forced-labor-xinjiang https://www.cbsnews.com/video/rare-look-inside-chinas-internment-camps-holding-more-than-1-million-muslims/ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-26414014
