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The far west of China, in the Xinjiang region, has revised its legislation to allow local governments to "educate and transform" people who are influenced by extremism into "detention centers". vocational training "- term used by the government to describe a network of internment facilities called" reeducation ". camps ".
The law's amendment, which came into force on Tuesday, comes amid an international outcry over secret camps in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
But observers said the registration of these premises in the law did not respond to global criticism of the systematic detention of China and the forced political education of one million people belonging to the Uygur race and other Muslims. of the region.
The Chinese authorities had previously denied the existence of such arbitrary detentions and imposed bases for political rehabilitation, but indicated that some citizens had been sent to vocational training centers for minor offenses.
The revision, issued by the regional legislature, recognizes the use of such centers as part of the government's efforts to eliminate "religious extremism". In recent years, a massive crackdown on security in Xinjinag and radical restrictions on Islamic practices have also been taken.
"Governments at county level and above can set up educational and transformation organizations and supervisory departments such as vocational training centers, to educate and transform people who have been influenced by extremism, "according to a new clause of the" Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Regulation on Anti-Extremism ".
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In addition to the acquisition of vocational skills, the centers must provide instruction in spoken and written Chinese, as well as aspects of the law and other regulations.
They must also organize "an ideological education to eliminate extremism", perform psychological treatment and behavioral correction, "help trainees to transform their thoughts and return to society and their families".
Dolkun Isa, executive chairman of the World Uygur Congress, based in Munich, said the Chinese authorities were applying the measures detailed in the revision without any legal justification for more than a year.
"[Rolling out the law] is only a formality to try to legalize the crackdown on Xinjiang Muslims, "he said.
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The old version of the law was passed in March 2017. It prohibits a wide range of acts considered as manifestations of extremism, including the wearing of the veil or the "abnormal" beard, the refusal to watch television or listen to the radio and prevent the children from receiving a national education. .
The inclusion of the camps in local legislation comes as Beijing is under increasing pressure from the United States and the European Union for its ruthless repression in Xinjiang, after a UN panel confronted Chinese officials in August following reports of massive extrajudicial detentions of Muslim minorities.
James Leibold, an expert on China's ethnic politics at Melbourne's La Trobe University, said global criticism of the use of detention centers had led the Communist Party to "struggle to justify them legally." and politically ".
"[The] The original 2017 regulation on deradicalization was vague and imprecise as to its "education and processing" provision, he said. "This is therefore a retrospective solution and an attempt to justify" legal "the mass detention of Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang and elsewhere, with the aim of carrying out a political and cultural reorganization in due form. "
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This view is echoed by Li Lifan, an expert from Central Asia at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.
"I think this … is aimed at foreign critics of how Xinjiang is rehabilitating extremists and their family members," he said, adding that the settlement provided legal support for the authorities' efforts to "maintain the social stability and national security ".
However, human rights defenders have stated that the transposition of internment camps into law does not confer legitimacy on them.
"International human rights law is clear no matter what China tries to" legalize "the illegal," said Michael Caster, human rights advocate at Safeguard Defenders, who studies the legal system Chinese.
"It's just another case of [Beijing] trying to mask the violation of human rights under the pretext of the rule of law. What is happening in Xinjiang is at least a flagrant violation of human rights, if not a crime against humanity. "
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Beijing accuses Islamist extremists and separatists of being at the root of unrest between the Uyghurs and the Han ethnic majority who have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people over the past decade. Human rights groups say the conflict is caused by government repression of religious freedoms and unfair ethnic policies.
Kristin Shi-Kupfer, director of public policy research and society at the Mercator Institute for China Studies in Berlin, said China had good reason to take legal and rational measures to fight against extremist attacks, but that current measures "clearly erase the border between the kingdom of religion, culture and crime".
"The current systematic crackdown on Uighurs, mainly in Xinjiang, is likely to create more discrimination and alienation between Xinjiang ethnic groups, especially the Han and Uighurs, and potentially radicalize those who are not already silenced by fear and despair, "she said.
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