'The Xinjiang Police Files', published this week by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation with cooperation from 13 media outlets from 10 countries, have given the world an inside view of China's "re-education camps" and the “prison-like” conditions that Uighur Muslims are being subjected to inside them. The Files, that include leaked internal police documents and over 2,800 photographs of detained Uighurs, including some as young as 15, were released first as part of a research article () authored by Dr Adrian Zenz, Senior Fellow, China Studies, at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation in Washington, D C. The media outlets with whom the research was shared by Dr Zenz include the BBC, Le Monde, and USA Today. What do the 'Xinjiang Police Files' reveal? The leaked information contains photos of SWAT teams conducting anti-escape drills from the internment camps. There are also records of speeches from officials in 2018 with orders of “first shoot, then report” for incidents related to suppression of the inmates. Dr Zenz tweeted on May 24 that the information was obtained by "hacking into Xinjiang police/re-education camp computers" and includes "first-ever image material from inside camps". He added that China's President Xi Jinping is demanding new camps to be set up because existing ones are overcrowded. This is the latest investigative report on China, which has been accused of large-scale human rights violations against the Uighurs in the last few years. Who are the Uighurs? The Uighurs live in the Xinjiang region of China, which is located in the country's northwest. The Uighur population is ethnically different from the Han Chinese, the ethnicity that forms the largest ethnic group in China. In the past, some Uighurs have demanded greater autonomy. This as many Uighurs consider their own culture as distinct from that of the Han Chinese. There has also been a push by the Chinese government to resettle more Han Chinese to Xinjiang for top jobs, leading to some resentment among Uighurs. In the late 2000s, some Uighur groups intensified their activities, and ethnic clashes were reported in some cities of China. How has China cracked down in the region? The Chinese government has designated many Uighurs groups and individuals as terrorists and extremists. Since 2018, international organisations have reported alleged detention of Uighurs in large numbers. China, however, has consistently denied such reports. It says that Uighurs are being given vocational training for skilling them. The Chinese government has maintained that some of the camps that have been constructed, as confirmed by satellite images, are “de-radicalisation” and “counter-terrorism” centres. ‘The Xinjiang Police Files’ say that around 2 million Uighurs are in these camps. The Chinese communist party-backed Global Times newspaper has said that the measures targeted at Uighurs have been successful, claiming “there have been no violent terrorist cases for over four consecutive years in the region.” What has China been accused of doing? Reports that have come out in recent years paint a picture of people in severe captivity. The BBC reported in 2018 that Uighur villages in the region were under strict surveillance, and Uighur government officials were prohibited from practising Islam, attending mosques, and from fasting during Ramadan. In 2021, China banned BBC World News from broadcasting in China, partly due to their coverage of Xinjiang. The next year saw The New York Times come out with a report based on more than 400 pages of leaked documents from China. Some of these were speeches given by Xi Jinping, underlining the principle of a total crackdown with no mercy. In 2021, Amnesty International said that the Chinese authorities have created a “dystopian hellscape on a staggering scale in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region”. How has the world responded? Governments in the West have repeatedly condemned the treatment of Uighurs by the Chinese government. British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the latest reports “add to the already extensive body of evidence”. Her statement added: “The UK stands with our international partners in calling out China’s appalling persecution of Uighur Muslims.” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called for a transparent investigation into the “very serious human rights violations”. The US said that it was “appalled” by the findings and that the “ongoing genocide” by China unfortunately continues. India has not commented on the matter. What has been China's response? On May 25, CNN reported Chinese President Xi Jinping as saying: “There is no need for 'preachers' to boss around other countries.” This was during a video call with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, who is on an ongoing six-day trip to China that started on May 23. Dr Zenz, who has previously written on the condition of Uighurs, has been criticised by China in the past. In December 2021, the local government of Xinjiang termed him as a “tool and puppet of the anti-China forces in the West”. As has been the case when such reports have come out, China is expected to deny the allegations of its treatment of Uighurs.
