The Current Situation

Right now in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, one out of every ten Uyghurs in the area is detained in so-called “reeducation” camps. What crime did these Uyghurs commit? Being Muslim. Anyone who has ever sent a text in Arabic, recited the Quran in public, worn a hijab, attended a service at a mosque, or contacted or visited Muslim countries (such as Turkey and Afghanistan) could be or has been detained. Though there are only 27 camps recognized by the Chinese government, reports state that there are now over one thousand camps with over one million Uyghurs detained in total.

At these “reeducation” camps Uyghurs are forced to live in prison-like conditions with heavy surveillance cameras and microphones watching and listening to their every move. Detainees are made to pledge allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party, renounce Islam, sing Communist praises and learn Mandarin. Stories of Uyghurs who have survived and fled the camps reveal that many were subject to brutal torture and sexual abuse. Along with these atrocities, Uyghurs are forced to eat pork and drink alcohol, which are prohibited in Islam, and are not allowed to pray five times a day, which is one of the most important parts of the religion. These actions against the Uyghurs are clear acts to diminish their Islamic beliefs and to lessen the general population of Uyghurs. 

The Chinese government, which believes that the Uyghurs are trying to use their religion as a way to spread separatism and extremism in the mostly atheistic and politically Communist country, has denied these claims. President Xi Jinping, who has warned of the “toxicity of religious extremism,” advocated for using  tools of “dictatorship” to put an end to Islamic extremists yet publicly stated that the camps are like boarding schools and that the Uyghurs are being treated fairly.  

The United Nations and the European Union have reprimanded China for its actions and have demanded access into the camps to uncover the conditions which the Uyghurs face; however, China denied access. In October of 2019, the US, the only country to take some action other than reprimand, imposed Visa restrictions on any Chinese that may have anything to do with the treatment of Uyghurs and blacklisted tech companies and agencies from buying any US goods that may be used for surveillance.  And in the beginning of 2019, Turkey, the only Muslim country to respond to the crisis, called on China to make sure they fully protect the cultural identities of Uyghurs and any other Muslim minority.

Some humanitarian and social activist groups around the world have held peaceful protests to provoke their own governments to do something about the situation. Those groups are almost entirely Muslim.

For the most part, the world hasn’t done remotely enough to help the Uyghurs’ situation. No one has taken any real action to put an end to China’s ethnic cleansing of the Uyghurs. And what’s even worse is that mainstream media has failed to fully inform the world about it.