{"id":4325,"date":"2018-10-29T17:10:22","date_gmt":"2018-10-29T17:10:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iuhrdf.org\/en\/2018\/10\/29\/guardian-view-chinas-detention-camps-now-we-see-them-editorial\/"},"modified":"2018-10-29T17:10:22","modified_gmt":"2018-10-29T17:10:22","slug":"guardian-view-chinas-detention-camps-now-we-see-them-editorial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/guardian-view-chinas-detention-camps-now-we-see-them-editorial\/","title":{"rendered":"The Guardian view on China\u2019s detention camps: now we see them Editorial"},"content":{"rendered":"

T<\/span><\/font>he courage of former inmates and relatives, and the diligence of academics, journalists and other researchers, has brought a terrible secret into plain view. As the evidence piled up of the mass extrajudicial detention of Muslim Uighurs, Kazakhs and others in China\u2019s north-western region of Xinjiang, it was met with silence or denial from Beijing. When experts told a UN panel<\/a> this August that as many as a million could be held, a Chinese official insisted that: \u201cThere is no such thing as re-education <\/span>centres<\/span>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Still<\/span> the satellite imagery, public documents <\/span>and<\/span> frightening personal testimonies<\/a> amassed. With a UN human rights council meeting approaching next month, China suddenly announced that under revised legislation<\/a>, local governments in Xinjiang could \u201ceducate and transform\u201d people influenced by extremism at \u201cvocational training <\/span>centres<\/span>\u201d. This does not make the detentions themselves lawful, says one expert on Chinese law<\/a>: \u201cPeople are simply taken away.\u201d But Beijing is now actively promoting the programme as an altruistic attempt to improve lives as well as <\/span>stabilising<\/span> the region, preventing further violent attacks. State media has shown<\/a> \u201cstudents\u201d in uniforms playing ping pong and folk dancing, and learning skills such as hairdressing. The chairman of the regional government enthuses<\/a> that the <\/span>centres<\/span> are air-conditioned, offer nutritious free meals and show that \u201clife can be so <\/span>colourful<\/span>\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

This humane idyll \u2013 a free summer camp with careers assistance \u2013 is in stark contrast to the harsh regime recorded by others. This week, a report by <\/a><\/span>AFP<\/span><\/a>based<\/span> on tendering and other official documents found such facilities ordering razor wire, spiked clubs and restraint devices known as \u201ctiger chairs\u201d. Former detainees have described political indoctrination and abuse. While the government official suggested that inmates are \u201csuspected of minor criminal <\/span>offences<\/span>\u201d, released prisoners describe people being held for having relatives abroad, reciting a religious verse at a funeral or failing to pay a bill. And as parents disappear into camps, children are being taken from families and placed in de facto orphanages<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The programme appears to be accelerating: the BBC suggests that the largest known camp<\/a> now has room for up to 130,000 inmates and would be one of the world\u2019s largest prisons even on a very conservative estimate. Outside, people live under the region\u2019s extraordinary digital surveillance \u2013 including a vast network of cameras, facial recognition systems and the mass collection of biometric data \u2013 as well as under close human view.<\/span><\/p>\n

A disturbing account<\/a> by an ethnographer this week detailed how more than a million Chinese officials have been sent out to stay with households in a \u201cBecoming Family\u201d campaign<\/a>. Officials portray it as an attempt to win hearts, including through help with poverty alleviation. But they are also told to gather information on their hosts, report on \u201cunusual situations\u201d and carry out political propaganda work. One regional manual tells workers to inform their \u201clittle brothers and sisters\u201d that they have been monitoring all internet and phone <\/span>communications,<\/span> and recommends targeting children for information. No private space of family and faith remains.<\/span><\/p>\n

These inconvenient facts have until recently been met largely with silence, including from Muslim countries. That is beginning to change. The US has raised the prospect of sanctions; the new UN rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, has pressed the issues; others are voicing concerns. We now know what is happening. Who will act?<\/span><\/p>\n

Source: The Guardian<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The courage of former inmates and relatives, and the diligence of academics, journalists and other researchers, has brought a terrible secret into plain view. As the evidence piled up of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4324,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"topic":[],"class_list":["post-4325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4325"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=4325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}