Devaluing Humanity in Counterterrorism: Xinjiang’s Re-education Camps
Akeefah lal Mahomed / Jan 24 / Violation of Human Rights
Photo: Getty Images
The Xinjiang Vocational Education and Training centres are part of China’s revised de-extremification strategy. Attempting to reaffirm a unified Chinese nationalism within the non-Han demographic, the camps target Muslim Uyghur and minorities. Resocialisation, restrictions to cultural/religious practices, psychological and physical punishments, and new surveillance systems have been instilled in the name of countering terrorism. These same camps have created new fears within the region through callous persecutions and the depreciation of an entire ethnicity.
Terrorism is a direct threat to the security and wellbeing of people around the world. It threatens not just individuals but upsets the stability nations function upon. It is persistent, it is global and it manifests itself in violent forms. Home to 11 million Uyghurs and 55 official minorities, Xinjiang is one of many places in the world troubled by separatism and domestic hostility. In response, President Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party have chosen to punish an entire demographic based on a minority’s actions.
What Happened?
In the face of a growing Han-Chinese population in Xinjiang, some Uyghurs have felt discontented with changing cultural dynamics. As sections within the Uyghurs population have radicalised, the conflict between Muslim-Uyghur and Han nationals have manifested into violence. The crackdowns began in 2009, after ethnic riots in Urumqi injured over 800 people. In 2011, a concerted effort was made by the government to pacify violence by linking the development of the region to culture. However, despite rising standards of livings, ethnic tensions continued. Following this, ‘de-extremification’ was phased into the education system in 2012. Failing to assimilate militant collectives into Han culture, the conflict reached a new peak in Yunnan Province, April 2014, as Uyghur militants wielding knives wounded 141 people at a train station, killing 29. This brutal attack happened days before President Xi held a leadership conference in Beijing, influencing the new brutal policies.
New policies combat the struggle against terrorism and separatism with a show of “absolutely no mercy.” Underlying this position is the perception that the UK’s prioritisation of human rights leaves it vulnerable to terror attacks. Prioritising security, China took influence from America’s War on Terror, using the “organs of dictatorship” to personalise their own People’s War on Terror. The People’s War on Terror comprises of restrictions regarding ‘abnormal’ appearance, such as long beards and burka’s; a ‘Strike Hard’ surveillance campaign and new education measures for de-extremification.
“If they don’t undergo study and training, they’ll never thoroughly and fully understand the dangers of religious extremism…No matter what age, anyone who has been infected by religious extremism must undergo study.” – official response to separated families, leaked document.
“Freedom is only possible when this ‘virus’ in their thinking is eradicated and they are in good health.” – official, leaked document
“Any responsible government must…remove the malignant tumour of terrorism and extremism…to safeguard peoples dignity and value, to protect their rights to life…and ensure they enjoy a peaceful and harmonious social environment,” - the State Council Information Office, August White Paper (2019).
The province has become one of the most heavily policed regions in the world as a result of the so-called ‘Strike Hard’ campaign. Accompanied by increased person-to-person surveillance, the campaign targets digital content for religious materials amongst suspected ethnicities. Intrusive scrutiny of people’s daily lives is made possible by using big data to inform predictive policing, enhancing existing strategies with new technology in an Integrated Joint Operations Platform. The platform receives data on individuals using multiple platforms, such as CCTV cameras with facial recognition or ‘Wi-Fi sniffers’ to collect identity addresses.
Vocational Education and Training Centres are operated by the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, under the CCP. The education centres, also known as counter-extremism centres, are mass detention facilities holding thousands targeted for their ethnicity and religion. Within the walls of the camps, citizens are shackled for infinite days to undergo political indoctrination, cultural assimilation and forced labour. Reported routines involve singing praises of the CCP, stressing China’s greatness and showing gratitude to the President. Before receiving meals inmates must chant “Thank the Party! Thank the Motherland! Thank President Xi!”. Those who resist or fail to show progress are punished through physical torture, food deprivation or forced performance of ‘forbidden’ activities. Crossing the line from unifying Chinese nationalism to coerced brainwashing, alternative ideas are replaced by a forced national admiration.
Since opening, growing collections of stories detail the crimes against humanity. Omir Bekali describes being tortured by authorities while in the camps. Mihrigul Tursun recounts unauthorised operations on her children, torture and deaths of her cellmates. Qelbinur Sidik’s story recounts rape, torture and forced sterilisation. Drone footage demonstrated blindfolded detainees transported to forced labour camps. Collated data shows the separation of families leaving children orphaned.
“My feet and my hands were tied up with iron shackles and they beat my hands, they beat my feet…they beat my back and my stomach…They put needles in between my nails and my fingers…then they put iron sticks into my sexual organs…[Those] scars are still there … whenever I remember those experiences my body shakes” – Omir Bekali
“The authorities put a helmet-like thing on my head, and each time I was electrocuted, my whole body would shake violently and I would feel the pain in my veins…I don't remember the rest. White foam came out of my mouth, and I began to lose consciousness…The last word I heard them saying is that you being an Uyghur is a crime." – Mihrigul Tursun
China has invited a number of diplomats to view deradicalisation under heavily controlled visitation. Likewise, journalists and human rights groups are not allowed independent access. Conditions suggesting forced labour or sterilisation have been rejected as part of inflammatory messages. There have been a range of avoidance tactics from denials of harsh treatment, to statements being reported as fake news. The camps have been defended as no different from Western methods for fighting terrorism. However, the deliberate persecution of a whole ethnic population, at the hands of their own state, is an uncomfortable dynamic. Parallels have been drawn by the (former) US Secretary of State, Michael Pompeo, describing the camps as old atrocities perpetuated under different manners. The centres are presented as re-education camps where detainees are able to leave, however, to obtain freedom citizens must sign statements swearing allegiance to China and that harm did not befall them. I would argue that survivors have little to gain and much to lose from lying about their experiences.
Counter-Humanity
Terrorism, separatism and religious extremism infringe human rights to life and development. Paradoxically, China’s counterterrorism approach has systemised cultural cleansing, threatening human rights in different ways. The campaign for social re-engineering has morphed into one of cultural genocide. Detainees are subjected to psychological stress as they abandon their native language, religious views and cultural practices. The general population lives under fear due to deeply invasive forms of surveillance. The threat of family separation, unwarranted prejudice and cruelty hang over citizens’ heads in everyday life.
Both conflicts by militant Uyghur nationals and terror by the Chinese state onto minorities have been reactions to globalisation motivated by fear. As new dynamics appear that the state struggles to control, the international community becomes divided between condemnation and commendation. The United States and the United Kingdom have been amongst the 22 nations to oppose the camps, however, with China’s rising economic importance, no sanctions have been imposed. In 2019, the United Nations issued a statement calling for the end to the mass detention centres, however, 50 nations stood by China’s right to politicise human rights issues. Since the initial vote, now 39 states have issued a letter of concern, but a majority still turn a blind eye. Earlier this week, the United States became the first country to declare China’s treatment of Uyghurs as Genocide and called for appropriate multilateral action to end the heinous abuse and breaching of human rights.
It is estimated that over 1 million citizens have been imprisoned in these detention centres. As separatist paranoia increases, detainment extends to secular, atheist and Christian Uyghurs.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been no reports on conditions in the facilities. Supposed suspension and downsizing of camps appear false as the Australian Strategic Policy Institute report continued construction. For international actors, the question is then left, what message does inaction convey as China comes into its role as a world leader? When methods for combating terrorism are more destructive than the original terror itself, rhetoric about saving lives become hypocritical.
“I want to make it clear that this Uighur genocide is not just [about] religion…it’s a test for humanity, for the whole world…I hope the international community takes more drastic actions” - Omir Bekali
For more information, go here to find extensive (leaked) documents, including 200 pages of internal speeches and over 150 directives, and to the The Xinjiang Data Project for surveillance data on the camps. Donations to the Hira Foundation support orphaned Uyghur children.