For Amnesty International, China’s measures against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang constitute “crimes against humanity”

The NGO Amnesty International described this Thursday as Measures and policies of “crimes against humanity” put in place by the Chinese government against ethnic minorities, mainly Uyghurs, in the Xinjiang region, in the west of the country.

In a report, the organization warned that the “draconian” measures imposed by Beijing took thousands of people from various muslim minorities a be subjected to mass hospitalization which, on many occasions, involves abuse and torture.

After collecting new testimonies, the NGO warned that Muslim ethnic groups are forced “to abandon their religious traditions, cultural practices and local languages ​​”and are subject to“ systematic mass surveillance ”.

Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region “They face massive incarceration, torture and systematic state-organized persecution which constitute crimes against humanity”Amnesty reaffirmed.

The report, titled ‘Like we’re the enemy in a war: Mass internment, torture and persecution by China of Muslims in Xinjiang ‘, the NGO accuses Beijing of persecuting ethnic groups under the pretext of fighting terrorism.

The document denounces that Chinese authorities have created one of the world’s most sophisticated surveillance systems and a vast network with hundreds of “dark” “transformation through education” centers, where “torture and ill-treatment” are used.

“Chinese authorities have created a dystopian hell on a staggering scale in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, ”said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International.

Callamard lamented that the “Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other Muslim minorities are victims of crimes against humanity and other serious human rights violations that threaten to destroy their religious and cultural identity. “

“The conscience of mankind should be shocked to learn that countless people have been brainwashed, tortured and other degrading treatment in internment camps, while millions more live in fear in the midst of a huge surveillance apparatus “, he said.

Mass incarceration

The text documents how large numbers of men and women from predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities have been detained in Xinjiang since early 2017. Hundreds of thousands of these people were imprisoned and sent to internment camps.

Testimonies collected by the organization show numerous arbitrary arrests and interrogations carried out, often by means of “Shopping, sleep deprivation, overcrowding and torture.” In the internment camps, detainees are subject to severe rules and punishments and lack autonomy and privacy.

Amnesty has warned that during the first weeks or months of detention, detainees often have to stay in their cells. sitting still or kneeling in the same posture, in total silence, during most of the waking hours.

After this period, they usually go through a process of “education” strength, which consists of indoctrinating them to renounce Islam, to give up speaking their language and, on the contrary, to study Mandarin Chinese and Communist Party propaganda.

The organization also stressed that there is a strong surveillance regime and that the population of the internment camps is “one of the most closely watched in the world”. In this direction, those leaving the camps must spend several months under “almost constant electronic and personal surveillance”.

Mosques, shrines or other religious and cultural sites have been demolished or converted for other purposes in the Xinjiang region, where the government is conducting a “mass concealment“Of this violation of Human Rights.

Amnesty accused the authorities of the Asian giant of “detaining and mistreating” those who denounce the situation in the region. Official statistics from China show significant increases in prison terms and satellite images show significant prison-building activity in Xinjiang since 2017.

“China must immediately dismantle internment camps, release the people arbitrarily detained both in these prisons and in the prisons and put an end to the systematic attacks against the Muslim population of Xinjiang ”, insisted Callamard.

For her, it is important that the international community “raise its voice” and act “in unison to put an end to this aberration”. “UN must urgently establish and dispatch an independent investigative mechanism to hold those responsible for crimes under international law to account», He underlined.

As China continues to insist that the accusations against it about the situation of the Uyghurs are based on “lies”, Various human rights organizations estimate that at least 1 million Uyghurs, as well as other Muslim populations living in China, have been interned in camps in the Xinjiang region. Various reports accuse Beijing of forcibly sterilizing women and forcing the population into forced labor.

The Chinese government has repeatedly warned that this type of position represents a “interference in your internal affairs“And defended that the current situation in Xinjiang is the best in terms of” stability, economic development and coexistence between people of all ethnicities. “

However, Countries like the United States insist that the treatment of Uyghurs amounts to “genocide” because, in addition to labor camps, millions of Muslims live under a system of strict surveillance and control.

(with EP information)

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