China incarcerates over 449,000 Uyghurs in Xinjiang, says rights group
A new report has found that the Chinese communist government is subjecting the Uyghur minority group to a devastating campaign of mass incarceration.
More details in the following report:
According to a recent report by the Uyghur Human Rights Project, over 449,000 Uyghurs are currently imprisoned in the Xinjiang region, accounting for 1 in 17 Uyghurs and other non-Han Chinese residents.
The Washington-based research and advocacy group’s analysis of leaked Chinese data indicates that 1 in 26 Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang were incarcerated in 2022.
Even more alarming, the report estimates that 1 in 17 Uyghur adults have been imprisoned for actions that would be considered protected rights in a democracy, such as reading the Quran.
While Uyghurs and other non-Han groups make up only 1% of China’s overall population, they account for a staggering 34% of the country’s estimated prison population.
This disproportionate targeting of the Uyghur minority has led the U.S. State Department to conclude that China’s actions in Xinjiang amount to genocide and crimes against humanity.
The dire situation for Uyghurs was a key topic of discussion during U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s recent trip to China. Blinken stated that he raised concerns about “human rights abuses in Xinjiang” with Chinese officials, but Beijing criticized him for interfering in China’s domestic affairs.
Experts have noted that the mass incarceration of Uyghurs is not only a human rights crisis, but also benefits the Chinese economy through the exploitation of prison labor.
Some companies have even constructed factories near prisons to take advantage of this forced labor, paying workers next to nothing.
As the number of imprisoned Uyghurs continues to grow, so too does China’s forced labor pool. Human rights groups have urged international organizations to take stronger action to address this alarming situation, but the Chinese government remains defiant, insisting that it will not tolerate any “interference” in its domestic affairs.
