Internment Camps in China are Committing Atrocities

By: Madison Farnsworth
Opinion Editor

The Chinese prison camps that are detaining thousands of Uyghurs, Kazaks, Kyrgyz, and other ethnic Muslim groups are unethical and dehumanizing. 

It started back in 2017 with the Chinese government insisting that all Uyghurs be put into what they call a “re-education camp.” However other countries quickly caught on to what was really happening and have called out the Chinese government.

The Chinese government claims that they are imprisoning these people for protection against terrorism, but if the world has learned anything from history, it is that putting ethnic and religious minorities in prison camps is legally and morally wrong in more ways than one.

The camps are officially called “Vocational Education and Training Centers.” The Chinese government is labeling these camps as “Re-education camps” and its aim is to “re-educate” the ethnic Muslims of official Chinese customs, like speaking and writing Mandarin.

In reality the camps are only trying to erase the millennia of culture that the ethnic Muslims have and replace it with what is seen as the acceptable culture, the Chinese culture.

The prison camps should be seen as major red flags rose from the Chinese government. If this is how they end up treating people whose own separate culture is different than the traditional Chinese culture then that obviously says something about how China regards basic human rights.

This should be taken as a major human rights violation on China’s part. It is unjust cruelty against the ethnic Muslim groups these camps are affecting. They do not deserve this kind of treatment for just living their own lives and being who they are.

According to BBC news, startling documents were recently leaked which expose the immoral treatment of minority groups housed in the Chinese prison camps. Quotes from the document make the camps sound like an Orwellian nightmare come true:

‘Increase discipline and punishment of behavioral violations… Never allow escapes…. [Ensure] full video surveillance of dormitories and classrooms free of blind spots’.

The Chinese government passed this off as fake news, but even more evidence points toward the emotional torture that takes place at these camps.

Aibota Serik, a Chinese Kazakh, reported to BBC that her father was taken away to these camps without a trial and she is yet to hear back from him.

Innocent families are being torn apart because of these camps. Parents are getting split from their children. Spouses and siblings are getting separated from each other. It is a tragic mess that is ruining the lives of families.

So far 23 governments have condemned the Chinese government and urged for the closing of the camps. On the other side, 54 governments have supported the Chinese Government and commended the government for their “protection” of human rights.

It does seem strange that the majority of the governments that support the camps in China come from vastly Muslim centered countries. It would be assumed that these governments would be against China’s ruling; however that is not the case.

What the United States government has done so far in order to put a stop to China’s ways is several different senators addressing the issue to the American people by making various statements for the past two years.

Another thing that the government has done was pass two separate acts; the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act in 2018 and the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act in 2019.

It does feel as if there is nothing much the other world governments can do in order for the Chinese government to put a stop to the camps; however being informed about the camps in the first place is the right step to take.

It is comforting to hear that other world governments are stepping up when it comes to dealing with the prison camps. However the Chinese government is a global powerhouse and it might end up taking more effort from the other governments in the long run in order for the camps to be shut down and stop existing altogether in the future.

Photo Cred: Wikipedia