A collection of hacked files has revealed the concerning plight of Uyghur Muslims being persecuted in the Xinjiang province of China.
The BBC revealed more than 2,800 pictures from the newly shared information to document the human rights abuses of the Uyghur people.
“Today, further shocking details of China’s human rights violations in Xinjiang have emerged, which add to the already extensive body of evidence from Chinese government documents, first-hand testimony, satellite imagery and visits by our own diplomats to the region,” United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet said.
“New evidence shows the extraordinary scale of China’s targeting of Uighur Muslims and other ethnic minorities, including forced labour, severe restrictions on freedom of religion, the separation of parents from their children, forced birth control, and mass incarceration,” she added. “The UK stands with our international partners in calling out China’s appalling persecution of Uighur Muslims and other minorities. We remain committed to holding China to account.”
Nury Turkel, co-founder and chair of the Uyghur Human Rights Project, also condemned China’s actions.
“What we’re dealing with is an industrial-scale concentration camp system, a modern-day, tech-supported genocide,” Turkel wrote. “What more do they want to see in order to act? I don’t understand. Never again is happening again, right now.”
The BBC report blasted the inhumane treatment of the Uyghur people.
“The documents provide some of the strongest evidence to date for a policy targeting almost any expression of Uyghur identity, culture or Islamic faith – and of a chain of command running all the way up to the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping,” the report stated.
New Mexico Republican Rep. Yvette Herrell shared the BBC account on Twitter, with strong words opposing China’s actions.
“A tragic reminder of why the USA has not only a strategic interest in divesting from China, but a moral one,” she wrote. “Communist gulags are alive and well in 2022.”
A tragic reminder of why the USA has not only a strategic interest in divesting from China, but a moral one.
Communist gulags are alive and well in 2022. https://t.co/go0lnnZV8z
— Rep. Yvette Herrell (@RepHerrell) May 24, 2022
The news comes shortly after research by The Daily Wire documented that a February 2020 report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), the Chinese Communist Party has facilitated “a state-sponsored labour transfer scheme” of “Uyghur and other ethnic minority citizens from the far west region of Xinjiang to factories across the country.” Living in segregated dormitories and forced to undergo ideological training outside of work hours, these Uyghurs — many of whom are Muslims — are forbidden from practicing their religion or otherwise expressing dissent with their government.
Many former inmates of Uyghur detention camps have experienced torture and sexual abuse as part of their “re-education” process. One female survivor recalled getting removed from the streets by law enforcement, enduring gang rape, and being forced to take sterilization pills. By several estimates, the Uyghur genocide is the largest mass imprisonment of a minority group since World War II.