{"id":4223,"date":"2018-10-21T15:54:46","date_gmt":"2018-10-21T15:54:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iuhrdf.org\/en\/2018\/10\/21\/china-must-release-uighurs-immediately-un-says-amid-alarm-reports-1m-muslims-kept-detention\/"},"modified":"2018-10-21T15:54:46","modified_gmt":"2018-10-21T15:54:46","slug":"china-must-release-uighurs-immediately-un-says-amid-alarm-reports-1m-muslims-kept-detention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/china-must-release-uighurs-immediately-un-says-amid-alarm-reports-1m-muslims-kept-detention\/","title":{"rendered":"China must release Uighurs immediately, UN says amid ‘alarm’ at reports of 1m Muslims kept in detention centres"},"content":{"rendered":"

China<\/a> must immediately release Uighur Muslims<\/a> being held in alleged political re-education camps on the \u201cpretext of countering terrorism\u201d, a committee of UN human rights experts have said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Up to one million Uighurs<\/a>, a largely Muslim minority, may be held involuntarily in extra-legal detention in China\u2019s far western Xinjiang province, according to estimates cited by the committee.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/div>\n

A former inmate in one of the <\/span>interment<\/span> camps said Muslims were forced to eat pork and drink alcohol<\/a>, acts which are forbidden by their religion.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
 <\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination issued its findings after a two-day review of China\u2019s record, the first since 2009, earlier this month.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/div>\n

It has never officially confirmed the existence of detention<\/span>centres<\/span> there<\/span>.China\u2019s<\/span> <\/span>foreign<\/span> ministry rejected the allegations at the <\/span>time,<\/span> and said anti-China forces were behind the criticism of Beijing\u2019s policies in Xinjiang.<\/span><\/p>\n

China has said Xinjiang faces a serious threat from Islamist militants and separatists who plot attacks and stir up tensions between the Uighur minority and the ethnic Han Chinese majority.<\/span><\/p>\n