By Nicol Paulino and Ayesha Siddik
Everyone knows about the Holocaust. They may also know about many other genocides, political killings, and other horrific things that have gone down in history. What they don’t know much about is what is happening right now to the Muslim community in China.
More than 1 million Turkish Muslims residing in the western regions of Xinjiang province have been put into detention camps, where they are tortured, malnourished, and forced into hard labor. The camps were created to advance the Chinese government’s agenda to have a more secular, Communist state.The overseers of these camps hope to “re-educate” the Muslim population by taking away their distinctive cultural identity. By forcibly eliminating the traditions that make them who they are, China hopes to transform this religious and ethnic minority into “mainstream” Chinese Communists.
These re-education camps are surrounded by high walls that block all sunlight from getting in. These walls also make it difficult for information about what is really happening within these camps to reach the outside world. However, many activists and independent human rights groups are trying to bring aid to this community and raise awareness about their condition.
The reason for the creation of these camps is that the Chinese government wants the Muslim population in China to become secular supporters of the Communist Party. What is currently happening to China’s Muslims is not widely known because China hides this information. It refuses to permit press access to the camps, and does business with nations and corporations worldwide that refuse to question Chinese domestic policies or to provide asylum for these individuals.
The Chinese authorities that have been holding Muslim individuals from the Xinjiang region of the country in internment camps have affected 10% percent of the Uighur population of Xinjiang. Information about the existence of these re-education camps was first released in 2014. Since then, the re-education campaign was intensified in August 2016, when Chen Quanguo took charge as the headline party secretary.
At first, officials were denying any allegations that these camps even existed. But recently they have been changing legislation so that it is legal to “educate and transform” these targeted individuals into denying their cultural beliefs.
Protesting the injustice the Muslim community is facing in China should be more of a priority for Democratic nations where freedom of religion is a basic right. We have seen the results of this kind of oppression before when Hitler targeted Jewish individuals in Germany while many nations ignored it. Much of the world refused to speak up against Hitler until many people had already been displaced or killed; so it seems essential now to take action in a timely manner. We believe America has turned a blind eye to this situation for far too long. If we cannot convince the Chinese to release those they’ve interned in the camps, then offering asylum and aid to this oppressed minority is the least western powers can do after years of political defamation and discrimination directed towards Muslims.