ABSTRACT
In its western region of Xinjiang, China has been accused since 2014 of having transferred over one million Uyghurs, maybe three, in mass internment camps, prisons, and other penal institutions that the government officially classifies as ‘concentrated educational transformation centres’. In these camps, interned Uyghurs are suspected to be subjected to forced indoctrination, psychological stress, forced labour, and torture. This chapter aims at providing a better understanding of both the origins and the impact of the China Communist Party (CCP) in Xinjiang in order to precise the state of the art of this massive ‘transformation through education’ campaign, as well as to decode the narrative that has been associated with it at the national level. This chapter also re-enacts the way in which academics, media, and foreign actors have adjusted their understanding and their narrative about Xinjiang since 2014 to disclose if any of their actions had a real impact on the concerned region and the humanitarian crisis it is going through. Finally, the last section of the chapter delves into the world of humanitarian actions and practitioners to offer recommendations to advance the level of consciousness, the debate on rights, and on humanitarian negotiations and interventions in either Xinjiang or China.
