Is China detaining Uighur Muslims in secret camps? Inside story

Is China detaining Uighur Muslims in secret camps? Inside story

China’s been accused of detaining more than a million Uighur Muslims in what UN human rights experts say resembles “a massive internment camp, shrouded in secrecy, a sort of no-rights zone.” It’s reported the camps are in the western region of Xinjiang. China denies such camps exist, but says criminals involved in minor offences are sent to what it calls “vocational education and employment training centres” to help with their reintegration into society.

About 10 million Uighur live mostly in Xinjiang region. China says its crackdown there is to protect peace and prevent what it calls terrorism.There have been ethnic riots in recent years and Uighur separatists have been blamed for several attacks, including one in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 2013.

 Inside Story on Thursday coincides with The International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances which is commemorated by the United Nations to remember the tens of thousands of people – maybe hundreds of thousands - abducted by police or government agents in various countries around the world.

The panel of experts talk about the documents stipulate watch towers, double-locked doors and video surveillance "to prevent escapes" and describe an elaborate scoring system that grades detainees on how well they speak the dominant Mandarin language, memorise ideology, and adhere to strict rules on everything, down to bathing and using the toilet.

China has struggled for decades to control Xinjiang, where hundreds of people, including Uighurs and Han Chinese, have died in violent attacks, reprisals and race riots.

The crackdown intensified dramatically when Xi named Chen Quanguo, a hardline official transferred from Tibet, as Xinjiang's new head.The Chinese government says its methods have worked.

The indoctrination goes along with "manner education", where behaviour is dictated, including ensuring "timely haircuts and shaves", "regular change of clothes" and "bathing once or twice a week". In practice, this meant that the detainees daily lives were regimented to an extreme and intrusive degree. Detainees are frequently tested on Mandarin, ideology and discipline, and their scores feed into a point system tracked by computer.

Those who do well are rewarded with family visits and early graduation, and those who do poorly are to be sent to a stricter "management area" with longer detention times.

Students go for "vocational skills improvement" only after at least one year of learning ideology, law and Mandarin.