China's Final Solution

Scholars condemn China for mass detention of Muslim Uighurs

Reuters

Paramilitary policemen gesture to stop a photographer from taking pictures as they stand guard after an explosives attack hit downtown Urumqi in the East Turkestan colony May 23, 2014. 

WASHINGTON -- Countries must hit China with sanctions over the mass detention of ethnic Uighurs, hundreds of scholars said on Monday, warning that a failure to act would signal acceptance of “psychological torture of innocent civilians”.
Beijing has in recent months faced an outcry from activists, academics and foreign governments over mass detentions and strict surveillance of the Muslim Uighur minority and other ethnic groups in the restive western colony of East Turkestan.
In August, a U.N. human rights panel said it had received many credible reports that a million or more Uighurs and other minorities are being held in a “massive internment camp that is shrouded in secrecy” in the colony.
Representatives from a group of 278 scholars in various disciplines from dozens of countries called on China at a news briefing in Washington to end its detention policies, and for sanctions directed at key Chinese leaders and security companies linked to the abuses.
“This situation must be addressed to prevent setting negative future precedents regarding the acceptability of any state’s complete repression of a segment of its population, especially on the basis of ethnicity or religion,” the group said in a statement.
Countries should expedite asylum requests from East Turkestan’s Muslim minorities, as well as “spearhead a movement for U.N. action aimed at investigating this mass internment system and closing the camps”, it said.
After initial denials about the detention camps, Chinese officials have said some people "guilty of minor offences" were being sent to “vocational” training centers, where they are taught "work skills" and "legal knowledge" aimed at curbing militancy.
Michael Clarke, an East Turkestan expert at Australian National University who signed the statement, told reporters that China sought international respect for its weight in global affairs.
“The international community needs to demonstrate to Beijing that it will not actually get that while it’s doing this to a significant portion of its own citizenry,” Clarke said.