A UN human rights committee has heard there are credible reports that China is holding a million Uighurs in “counter-extremism centres”.<\/p>\n
Gay McDougall, a member of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, raised the claims at a two-day UN meeting on China.<\/p>\n
She said she was concerned by reports that Beijing had “turned the Uighur autonomous region into something that resembles a massive internment camp”.<\/p>\n
China did not immediately respond.<\/p>\n
Its 50-strong delegation said it would address questions on Monday, when the session in Geneva continues.<\/p>\n
Beijing has previously denied the existence of such camps.<\/p>\n
The Uighurs are a Muslim ethnic minority mostly based in China’s Xinjiang province. They make up around 45% of the population there.<\/p>\n
Xinjiang is officially designated as an autonomous region within China, like Tibet to its south.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/images\/ic\/720x405\/p05wv9gj.jpg\")
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