The UK government recently confirmed reports of internment camps for Uighur Muslims following a visit to the region by British diplomats. The governments have been slow to react to the human rights disaster in China’s far western Xinjiang region. Its sheer scale demands immediate international action.
An estimated 1 million Uighurs and other Muslims minorities are believed to be held in detention centres in Xinjiang due to their ethno-religious identity.
In August, the UN committee on racial discrimination described Xinjiang as a “massive internment camp shrouded in secrecy”. The US congressional-executive commission on China said the Chinese government’s policies in Xinjiang might amount to crimes against humanity.
