• Most of these people serve long prison sentences of indefinite captivity in ‘re-education camps’ that supposedly provide ‘vocational training’ to the unemployed or ‘ideological training’ to extremists.
• With a growing network of internment camps and forced labour facilities, CCP is actively trying to destroy and decapitate Uyghur culture and way of life.
Image: JOHN KAMAU:
The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), renamed after the annexation of EastTurkistan by Chinese forces in 1949, is synonymous with widespread human rights abuses and genocide.
Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other Turkic people in the region have been subjected to systemic oppression from Chinese authorities who seek to alter the ethnic composition of the region through Nazi-style conniving measures such as forced sterilizations, abortions, arbitrary arrests and mass detention as well as mixed marriage programs between Uyghurs and Hans.
China has used refined technology to keep a constant surveillance system in place to detect all movements of Uyghurs and other Turkic people of the region and is subjected to forced medical check-ups that collect several types of biometric data including DNA, blood type, fingerprints, voice recordings and face scans, which is then converted into a data bank.
There have been reports that China may use such data to specifically target Uyghurs with tailor-made biological weapons according to a leaked 2017 PLA textbook. Millions of Uyghurs and other Turkic people are stuffed into cramped detention centres, that mirror Nazi concentration camps, with an added advantage of hi-tech systems.
Most of these people serve long prison sentences of indefinite captivity in ‘re-education camps’ that supposedly provide ‘vocational training’ to the unemployed or ‘ideological training’ to extremists.
With a growing network of internment camps and forced labour facilities, CCP is actively trying to destroy and decapitate Uyghur culture and way of life.
The web of surveillance is not limited to cameras on buildings but extends to chips inside mobile devices as well as on face scanners and biometric checkpoints scattered across the region.
China uses the Integrated Joint Operations Platform (IJOP), a regional data system that is powered by AI, to monitor the unending checkpoints across all XUAR cities. The IJOP contains an alarm that rings each time a blacklisted person’s profile shows up.
Other programs scan digital footprints through powerful AI that detects patterns, flags religious speech and even raises an alarm on the lack of use of Mandarin. Other suspicious behaviour can include sporting a beard and failing to attend flag-raising ceremonies.
Chinese authorities have claimed that the ‘sophisticated predictive’ technology in use targets 'criminals’ with ‘precision’.
The people of East Turkistan, according to the system are presumed guilty until proven innocent.
A list published by Human Rights Watch from the Aksu prefecture links the arbitrary imprisonment of thousands of Uyghur detainees through IJOP. This list points out how trivial details are used to sentence innocent Uyghurs to detention camps.
Behaviours as innocuous as missing a rent payment, travelling to Beijing, and even being ‘born after 1980s’ can lead to flagging by IJOP.
The Aksu List provides much-needed evidence to hold Chinese authorities culpable for their actions in occupied East Turkistan.
An investigation by the New York Times revealed how China used technology companies such as Intel and Nvidia, for the mass incarceration of the Uyghurs through computer chips that powered supercomputers that facilitated real-time surveillance.
Another report stated a ‘Uyghuralarm’ in a facial recognition program created by Chinese tech giants Huawei and Megvii. Barcelona’s Antoine Griezmann ended his Huawei sponsorship contract over the allegation in
December. He also urged Huawei to implement measures to respect the rights of men and women throughout society.
China has maintained that the heavily guarded centres are for educational and vocational training aimed at erasing terrorism and providing employment opportunities.
All the people who have attended these centres have "graduated"; and gone home. Detainees are held in the illegal concentration camps until their loyalties can be ascertained or their spirits are broken