{"id":4480,"date":"2018-11-15T18:19:31","date_gmt":"2018-11-15T18:19:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iuhrdf.org\/en\/2018\/11\/15\/china-has-detained-million-muslims-heres-what-you-need-know\/"},"modified":"2018-11-15T18:19:31","modified_gmt":"2018-11-15T18:19:31","slug":"china-has-detained-million-muslims-heres-what-you-need-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/china-has-detained-million-muslims-heres-what-you-need-know\/","title":{"rendered":"China Has Detained Up to a Million Muslims. Here\u2019s What You Need to Know"},"content":{"rendered":"

China\u2019s efforts to quash what it says is separatism and religious extremism among its ethnic Muslim population have turned the far western region of Xinjiang into one of the world\u2019s most heavily policed<\/a> areas. Multiple accounts <\/a>have emerged of secretive \u201cre-education camps\u201d that, according to a United Nations committee\u2019s assessment<\/a>, have detained tens of thousands to \u201cupwards of 1 million\u201d Uighurs. As its mosques are shuttered and travel across its borders restricted, Xinjiang — once at the intersection of ancient Silk Road trade routes — threatens to become a black hole in President Xi Jinping\u2019s effort to build new ones. The international community is taking note, with U.S. lawmakers calling for sanctions.<\/span><\/p>\n

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1. Who are the Uighurs?<\/span><\/h3>\n

The Uighurs (pronounced WEE-gurs) are a Turkic-speaking Chinese ethnic minority<\/a> of mostly Sunni Muslims. They comprise some 10 million of the 22 million people who populate Alaska-sized Xinjiang. Uighurs have close ethnic and cultural ties to Central Asia and some refer<\/a> to Xinjiang as East Turkestan.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Vast Borders<\/span><\/h3>\n

The Uighur crackdown could impact Xinjiang’s neighbors<\/span><\/p>\n