A new United Nations report finds China committing "serious human rights violations" against the Uyghur and Muslim population in the Xinjiang Autonomous region of the country.
"Serious human rights violations have been committed in [the] Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the context of the [Chinese] government's application of counterterrorism and counter 'extremism' strategies," the report by the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner said. "The implementation of these strategies and associated policies in the XUAR has led to interlocking patterns of severe and undue restrictions on a wide range of human rights."
The report contains a lengthy list of areas where rights for mainly Uyghurs and Muslims are systematically violated from restricting travel to reproduction, to imprisonment, to intimidation and reprisals.
According to the report, the autonomous region in the People's Republic of China is the country's largest geographic region with a population of almost 26 million people and is rich in resources like oil, coal, gas, zinc, lithium and lead.
It shares borders with Afghanistan, India, Mongolia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and is made up of 75% Uyghurs, who are predominantly Muslim, the report said.
The Chinese government has defended its policies in the region as countering "violent terrorism and separatism" and has said it is doing so "in accordance with the law," despite numerous accusations of discrimination and abuse.
Among the findings of abuse in the report, 26 witnesses detained at Chinese "vocational education and training centers" claim adverse conditions and harsh treatment of detainees at eight different locations, including being tortured during interrogations or punishments.
Other abuses documented in the report claim interference with the ability to practice religion and to observe cultural identity, linguistics, privacy, movement and reproductive rights and include the destruction of mosques and other religious sites.
The Uyghurs and other minorities have alleged since 2018 that they have been put into "forced labor," transforming rural farmers into industrial workers, several instances of which were documented by the committee for the report.
"These include government-led mobilization of rural households with local townships organizing transfers in accordance with labor export quotas," the report said. "The relocation or transfer of workers under security escort; onsite management and retention of workers under strict surveillance; the threat of internment in vocational education and training centers if workers do not accept 'government administration'; and the inability of placed workers to freely change employers."
The report also accuses the Chinese government of forcing the separation of families and of "enforced disappearances" of minorities in the region.
The Chinese government has denied the accusations in the report and insisted it is acting within the law, the report said.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.