{"id":4433,"date":"2018-11-09T18:29:19","date_gmt":"2018-11-09T18:29:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iuhrdf.org\/en\/2018\/11\/09\/china-amended-laws-legitimise-crackdown-uighurs-xinjiang-say-experts\/"},"modified":"2018-11-09T18:29:19","modified_gmt":"2018-11-09T18:29:19","slug":"china-amended-laws-legitimise-crackdown-uighurs-xinjiang-say-experts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/china-amended-laws-legitimise-crackdown-uighurs-xinjiang-say-experts\/","title":{"rendered":"China amended laws to ‘legitimise’ crackdown on Uighurs in Xinjiang, say experts"},"content":{"rendered":"

BEIJING – China’s western Xinjiang region has amended its laws to <\/span>legitimise<\/span> the detention of Uighurs, in a move that experts say is a response to the harsh foreign criticism of Beijing’s ongoing crackdown on the predominantly Muslim minority.<\/span><\/p>\n

The United Nations said in an August report that up to one million Uighurs are being detained in “re-education camps”<\/a>. This has led US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and, more recently, US Vice-President Mike Pence to denounce China’s treatment of Uighurs.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Survivors of the camps have described their experiences as a deliberate attempt by Beijing to strangle Uighur culture and stamp out the Muslim faith,” <\/span>Mr<\/span> Pence said in a speech last week.<\/span><\/p>\n

Beijing blames Uighur separatist groups for violent attacks in the region and <\/span>have<\/span> said that these groups have terror links.<\/span><\/p>\n

The amended laws<\/a>, which were passed on Tuesday (Oct 9), encourage local governments to combat extremism by establishing “vocational education <\/span>centres<\/span>” for the “educational transformation” of those influenced by extremism.<\/span><\/p>\n

These <\/span>centres<\/span> will also teach the Chinese language, laws <\/span>and<\/span> regulations, in addition to vocational skills training.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Uighurs are Turkic-speaking Muslims who make up about half of Xinjiang’s 22 million-strong population.<\/span><\/p>\n

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