Ten years after Beijing launched its
“Strike Hard Campaign against Violent Terrorism”
in Xinjiang, the Chinese government’s campaign against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims has hardened into what rights investigators describe as one of the gravest human rights crises of the 21st century. Human Rights Watch, marking the anniversary on August 27, 2026, stated that
“the Chinese government’s decade-long severe repression against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims, amounting to crimes against humanity, deserves a stronger response from the international community.”
This is not a rhetorical statement but rather one that has been grounded in ten years of known detentions, torture, forced labor, forced cultural assimilation, and intimidation across national borders. The numbers involved are immense. Several hundred thousand to 1 million Turkic Muslims have been detained in political education camps since 2017, and the US State Department puts the number of people who have passed through these camps between April 2017 and December 2018 at up to 2 million. In 2017 alone, the arrests in Xinjiang were responsible for almost 21% of the total arrests in China, while Xinjiang makes up 1.5% of China’s population. Figures from the Xinjiang Victims Database corroborate the fact that there have been around 300,000 convictions since the crackdown was intensified.
Crimes against humanity: the legal and factual core
The April 2021 Human Rights Watch Report
“Break Their Lineage, Break Their Roots”
has described facts that form the ground for concluding that crimes against humanity were committed by the Chinese authorities in relation to the Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang. According to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, crimes against humanity are grave breaches deliberately carried out as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population.
As it was found by Human Rights Watch, these actions include the imprisonment or severe deprivation of liberty, persecution of an identifiable group of persons based on national, ethnic, religious, and racial discrimination, enforced disappearance, torture, murder, and other inhumane acts including forced labor and rape. It should be noted that, although the United States State Department and the parliaments of Canada and the Netherlands concluded that the actions of China amount to genocide, Human Rights Watch, as of that time, had not documented the requisite intention. However, there is no controversy about the systemic character of abuses. Imprisonment began to escalate in 2014 when the “Strike Hard Campaign against Violent Terrorism” was launched and grew sharply in August 2016 when Chen Quanguo became the party secretary of Xinjiang. This campaign was not a response to sporadic incidents but was a plan for mass control.
Inside the system: detention, torture, and disappearance
The machinery of repression in Xinjiang operates through mass arbitrary detention and “political education” camps that function as prisons. Detainees are often held without charge or due process, including prominent academics, writers, journalists, doctors, and entertainers. Reasons for detention are banal and punitive: overseas travel, unofficial Hajj, applying for a passport, communicating with someone abroad, wearing a headscarf, having a beard, or failing community work like flag-raising. Facilities are surrounded by walls, watchtowers, and armed guards, and are managed “like the military” and “defended like a prison.”
Torture and ill-treatment in custody are routine. Former detainees report beatings, sleep deprivation, prolonged shackling, being strapped to “tiger chairs”, and electroshocks during interrogations. Mihrigul Tursun, a former detainee, said she witnessed nine deaths in three months and described being stripped naked, electroshocked, and beaten. Overcrowding, poor food, and denial of adequate medical care are common; some detainees were placed in solitary confinement, handcuffed, and deprived of food and water. The human cost is visible in the death toll: the Xinjiang Victims Database has reported 177 deaths of detainees, most while in custody; Radio Free Asia reported 150 deaths in one camp in Aksu Prefecture during the latter half of 2018 alone.
Enforced disappearances and family separation compound the trauma. Many families have no information about detained relatives, leading to the #MeTooUyghur campaign demanding proof of life. One online platform had recorded over 11,500 testimonies of disappearances as of December 2020. Children of detained parents have been placed in state-run orphanages and boarding schools, including preschools. More than 140,000 children in southern Xinjiang were separated from their parents between 2017 and 2018, largely due to arbitrary detention. The message is clear: resistance is futile, and the state will reshape the next generation.
Surveillance, cultural erasure, and forced labor
Repression encompasses not only incarceration but surveillance and cultural genocide as well. The state collects DNA samples, fingerprints, iris scans, and blood types of all inhabitants aged 12 to 65 years old; those designated as “focus personnel” and their families are required to participate irrespective of age. The surveillance methods include closed-circuit television cameras (CCTV) equipped with facial recognition software, WiFi sniffing, security checkpoints, and mandatory car-tracking devices. The information gathered is used by the state through the Integrated Joint Operations Platform (IJOP), which monitors people’s behavior and singles out those who need to be incarcerated for actions that can be considered innocuous (like calling foreigners via mobile phone). Incarcerated persons are obliged to learn Chinese and prohibited from using Turkic languages; they are also required to praise the CCP and to go through political re-education programs. Since 2017, two-thirds of the mosques have been damaged or completely destroyed; some Islamic holy places have been demolished as well.
The “Becoming Families” program employs over a million cadres that will be stationed in Turkic Muslims’ houses for indoctrination and surveillance purposes. Forced labor ties together the economy of repression and global supply chains. According to a report by Human Rights Watch in February 2024, over 15 percent of aluminum made in China – or 9 percent of the global supply – is produced in Xinjiang, where forced labor is widespread. By August 2026, the US Department of Homeland Security has included 187 Chinese companies in its forced labor list, with 43 new entries (including aluminum producers) added in July 2026.
International responses: progress, paralysis, and protection rackets
The international response has been mixed. On August 31, 2022, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) released a landmark report concluding that grave abuses in Xinjiang “may constitute … crimes against humanity.” Beijing dismissed the UN report as politically motivated. In August 2024, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk acknowledged that
“many problematic laws and policies remain in place”
in Xinjiang. In February 2026, Türk expressed regret at China’s
“lack of follow-up … on previous recommendations and on accountability.”
In June 2026, Türk raised concerns over China’s new Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress, which formalized policies erasing minority rights.
Among all the responses, the measures taken by the US have been the most vigorous. Thus, in December 2021, the US has passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), assuming that all goods coming from Xinjiang are based on forced labor and banning them from being imported to the US. Sanctions on the officials of China, who were involved in violations in Xinjiang, were introduced by the US, EU, UK, and Canada in 2021. In July 2026, the US extended the forced labor list to 187 entities adding 43 more firms (among which are also aluminum manufacturers). The US State Department, regardless of the president (Trump and Biden), has declared the actions of China as genocide and crimes against humanity. The EU has introduced the ban on importing products that are based on the use of forced labor, besides the development of the forced labor database where rights organizations say that Xinjiang should be listed as the high-risk area. The European Parliament has called China to withdraw the Ethnic Unity Law; the EU and Taiwan are warning about its extraterritorial impact. In 2023, Canada has pledged to accept 10,000 Uyghur refugees in response to their being forcibly returned by such countries as Thailand. However, several countries with a majority Muslim population (Indonesia, UAE, Pakistan), protect China from criticism in the UN. In 2019, China has coordinated the letter that was signed by 50 countries (such as Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela) supporting its actions in Xinjiang.
China’s stance: counter-terrorism, stability, and assimilation
Beijing has continuously denied any accusations of abuses by presenting these policies as inevitable measures to prevent terrorism, de-radicalize, and alleviate poverty. The Chinese government says that the camps are “Vocational Skills Education Training Centers,” which aim at preventing extremism and providing vocational education. They state that this policy “effectively contained religious extremism” and created “a good foundation for future stability.” In July 2026, China adopted the Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress, which institutionalized these assimilation policies and was widely criticized by UN experts and the European Parliament. On the occasions of high-level visits to Xinjiang, China emphasizes that “social stability” is of prime importance and refuses the claims of the international community.