UN Committee: Credible Reports Say China Is Holding 1 Million Uighurs in ‘Internment Camp’

The U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination said Friday that members have received “credible reports” that 1 million ethnic Muslim Uighurs are being held in a “massive internment camp that is shrouded in secrecy” in China, Reuters reports. The committee also estimates that 2 million Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in the western Xinjiang autonomous region are being held in “political camps for indoctrination” in order to combat “religious extremism” and maintain “social stability.” The reports are coming from activist groups like the Chinese Human Rights Defenders. China claims that the province faces a “serious threat” from Islamic extremists, and has accused them of trying to stoke tensions between the Uighurs and the Han Chinese majority. However, the U.N. committee pushed back and said China has been treating the Uighurs as “enemies of the state” solely on ethno-religious grounds.