China holds 1 million Uighurs in "zones without rights" says UN

Members of the Uighur minority and other Chinese Muslim groups are treated as "enemies of the state" and held in secret camps, UN says.

On Friday (10/08), the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) launched a two-day annual assessment of the human rights situation in China, expressing "deep concern" at the Uighurs , a Muslim-based ethnic group living in the country.

Speaking in Geneva, Committee Vice-President Gay McDougall said that reliable reports indicate that China's approach to fighting religious extremism "has made the Uyghur autonomous region something like a concentration camp shrouded in secrecy, zone without rights. "

She also said that about 2 million Uighurs in the autonomous region of Xinjiang, China, were being sent to "political indoctrination fields."

Among the sources cited in McDougall's statements were the Chinese Human Rights Defenders, an activist group that last month reported that 21% of all 2017 arrests in China were made in Xinjiang.

The 50-member Chinese delegation in Geneva did not respond to McDougall's allegations. Earlier in the day, China's UN ambassador to Geneva, Yu Jianhua, said his country is taking steps to achieve equality and solidarity among all ethnic groups in the country.

"Enemies of the State"

McDougall accused China of treating the Uyghurs and other Muslims as "enemies of the state" because of their ethnic and religious identity. Mentioning the "arbitrary and massive detention of almost 1 million Uyghurs."

Fatima-Binta Victoire Dah, a member of the UN committee, asked the Chinese delegation: "What is the level of religious freedom that Uighurs enjoy in China, what legal protection is there for them to practice their religion?"

China claims that the Xinjiang region is facing threats from Islamic radicals and extremists involved in attacks and inciting the conflict between the Uighur minority and the ethnic Han majority.

Critics say Uighurs are monitored and persecuted by the government, with thousands of them being sent to detention centers and indoctrination.

Next Monday in Geneva, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination will convene for its second day of meetings.