MUSLIM CAMPS IN CHINA- A PARALLEL TO THE PAST?
The Chinese Government have stated that these camps offer 'voluntary education' to, predominantly, Uighur Muslims. But new evidence, revealing shocking conditions, states otherwise.
THINK BACK TO THE PAST...
To fully understand the problems of the present, first we must take a step back and remember the past.
The Holocaust began in 1945 after the ‘Final Solution’ was decided by Hitler and his inner circle. The idea of anti-Semitism however, did not stem directly from Adolf Hitler and rather from the Roman authorities. As far back as the 1870s they began to marginalize against the minority group of Jews, by forcing them out of Palestine and destroying their holy places of worship. It was then in 1933 that Hitler finally became chancellor of Germany and his anti-Jew, Aryan views started to spread throughout the country. The Jewish Holocaust was a horrifying process, where an estimated seven out of ten Jews in Europe were prosecuted and murdered in gas chambers, through strenuous work or extreme torture, and indeed many were a witness of this. The root problem of such a horrific event was just pure racism, and hatred of those considered 'different'.
THE CURRENT DAY
Recently ‘the BBC’ and other media organisations revealed that China are holding more than one million Uighur Muslims, who been locked up in various large detention camps. The Chinese Communist Party continues to maintain these centres, claiming that they are made “to prevent terrorism thoughts from happening.” They further state that in order to counter terror, extremism and separatism they believe such Islamic beliefs should be removed out of society and that the camps are only an aid for these ‘re-education’ purposes. However, a leaked, official document, covered by BBC Panorama, shows how the Uighur Muslims are actually being locked up, indoctrinated and punished. Moreover, Omar Kanat, part of the ‘Uighur Human Rights Project’ also allegedly stated: “They are forcing them to say there is no God, there is only the Communist Party.” Through Kanat’s claims it appears as if the Chinese government are stripping the right of freedom of speech, belief and act from the Uighur Muslims.
The image on the right shows how large the 'Dabancheng' camp has grown over the space of three years
But how are these people found?
According to Chinese officials there are supposedly three types of trigger ‘students’; those who have committed a so called minor offence by wearing a burqa (a simple part of their culture and religion, demonstrating a symbol of chosen modesty), those who have committed more serious offences and have chosen to go to a camp rather than jail and lastly, those who are sent for rehabilitation after a prison term. One part of these supposed‘requirements’ that stands out, were that of women being sent for wearing a burqa as part of their freedom of belief. You could question, that just because a woman is wearing a hijab (headscarf) or a burqa (a full length covering) does not mean they are terrorist and does not in the slightest relate to preventing terrorism or extremism. Videos were released in China about these 'schools', present them as clean, and full of eager students, however never show a single female ever wearing a headscarf. This implies that there is in actual fact a dress code restricting women from wearing them.
WOMEN ARE STILL BEING HELD IN THESE PRISON CAMPS AND RIPPED OF THEIR HUMAN RIGHTS.
Women discrimination has also been further reported by sources including ‘the Guardian’. They have included the example of, a Uighur woman named Mihrigul Tursun, who was detained three times by Chinese authorities. She claims that she was forced to sleep in an overcrowded cell, where she was tied to a chair and tortured. Similar occurrences have been reported by the ‘China Tribunal’ group; they has seriously accused China Uighur camps of harvesting organs as well as cases of rape. Additional sources including the ‘Daily Mail’ have also revealed that a student named Ruqiye Perhat, who was arrested in Xinjiang, claimed that ‘any woman or man under the age of 35 was raped and sexually abused’. In fact others who have fled the camps have also made accounts (described in many news reports), claiming that sexual abuse had become systematic, occurring almost every night. The BBC have also interviewed and written articles about previous detainees of these camps who have revealed the far from OK conditions.
DISCRIMINATION THAT HAPPENED IN THE PAST STILL OCCURS TODAY.
The Holocaust was an incomparable event in terms of brutality and sheer hatred of others, but we cannot overlook the current situation, as there is strong evidence suggesting people are being ripped of their human rights and alienated-because of their religion. In this sense it does relate back to the treatments found in camps such as Ravensbrück- how people were outcast and tortured due to religion, profession or sexuality.
Everyone is human and everyone should be equal regardless of their beliefs. Terrorism and extremism cannot be defined to a certain religion, when it blatantly has nothing to do with their beliefs. Therefore, avoiding terrorism is not about cutting out a minority group, but it is about awareness because anyone could be the cause and anyone could be the victim. We need to lean towards spreading awareness, fighting for our human rights and not being afraid to speak out. Any small acts can help. After all, this is the first step to putting an end to things such as racism or sexism- once and for all.