Total surveillance
China's security and surveillance apparatus has grown considerably in size and influence, especially since the appointment of Chen Quanguo as Party Secretary for the region.
Urban areas are divided into a grid and equipped with a dense network of surveillance cameras, checkpoints and "convenience police stations".
DNA samples, fingerprints, iris scans and blood types of all residents in the region between the ages of 12 and 65 were collected from 18.8 million people in 2017.
The mass collection of personal data from CCTV scanners,
Facial recognition software, public databases, police checkpoints and DNA and blood samples are analysed in big data hubs with artificial intelligence.
According to an internal document of the Huawei Group, it tested a function that recognizes age, gender and ethnicity through facial recognition. This function passes on a "Uyghur alert" to the Chinese police. The Chinese company Alibaba also developed a function to recognize Uyghurs.
According to the leaked Aksu List, which contains information on more than 2,000 detainees from Aksu, the Chinese government is using the Big Data program Joint Operating Platform to systematically intern innocent people, Human Rights Watch reported. An app mandatorily installed on Uyghur*s' smartphones sends personal data and activities to the Joint Operating Platform. The Joint Operating Platform categorizes people into three levels of how they should be dealt with based on their level of obedience: "ordinary management," "strict management," and "strong management." For the Chinese government, "disobedience" and thus grounds for internment already include contact with or travel abroad, being a teenager or young adult, having more children than allowed by Chinese authorities, quoting the Koran, not having a permanent residence, or generally being considered untrustworthy.
This repressive technology is exported around the world, mainly through the Smart Cities program. Countries in Central Asia, Africa, South America, and even Europe have implemented this technology.
Internment Camp
Since 2017, the Chinese government has detained between 1.8 and 3 million Uyghurs and members of other Turkic peoples in internment camps.
Documents on file, such as the Karakax prisoner list, confirm that these people were interned because of their ethnicity and religion. Among the reasons given for internment in this list are wearing a beard that was too long, traveling abroad, or having too many children.
Witnesses who were able to escape the camps report inhumane living conditions, rape and torture.
Due to the poor hygiene and medical care in the camps, there is a very high risk of the coronavirus spreading in the camps, which would lead to one of the biggest humanitarian disasters of the 21st century.
In the camps, Uyghurs are forced to learn Mandarin, forget their cultural and religious heritage, and submit completely to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Forced labor
According to a report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), an estimated 80,0000 Uyghurs were transferred to factories for forced labor between 2017 and 2019. The system of mass transfers of workers represents modern slavery, in which Western companies are also involved.
The ASPI revealed that there are suppliers involved in the forced labor transfers of Uyghurs in the supply chains of 83 global companies. In an article (5/13/2020), the Chinese state television station CCTV spoke of 292,000 people from East Turkistan who had been transferred to other provinces by the end of April.
During the corona pandemic, Uyghurs continued to be transported to Chinese factories for forced labor.
According to ASPI, most Uyghur forced laborers cannot leave their workplaces where they are denied basic human rights.
A recent study of official Chinese government documents by scholar Dr. Adrian Zenz shows that over half a million Uighurs and members of other Turkic peoples have been forced to harvest cotton. 85% of the cotton produced in China comes from East Turkistan, 20% of the cotton produced worldwide.
Prisoners of internment camps who were "released" are often sent directly to factories for forced labor.
Birth control
A recent report by scientist Dr. Adrian Zenz, based on the analysis of official documents, proves that Uyghur women are forced into mass sterilization or other birth control measures.
The report notes that population growth rates in the two largest Uyghur prefectures in East Turkistan fell by 84% from 2015-2018 and dropped even further in 2019. Chinese authorities set an unprecedented near-zero population growth target for 2020 in one Uyghur region.
ITV News published an interview in which a Uighur doctor testified that she had been involved in at least 500 to 600 operations on Uighur women, including forced contraception, forced abortion, forced sterilization, and forced uterine removals.
When asked by CNN, Chinese authorities in East Turkistan stated that the birth rate in East Turkistan dropped by one-third in 2018.
Assimilation
The CCP's goal is to completely assimilate and socially remake the Uyghur people. Everything that makes the Uyghurs unique is targeted for assimilation.
Many Uyghurs are not allowed to speak their native language in schools. Children are forbidden by law to learn about their religion.
Young Uyghurs are separated from their parents and taken to "orphanages" where they are indoctrinated and deprived of their cultural identity. Dr. Adrian Zenz estimates that 880,500 children have been placed in "orphanages" by the end of 2019. An increase of 382,000 since 2017.
In the last 3 years, 30% of mosques have been destroyed, another 30% of mosques have been damaged, and 50% of Uighur cultural sites have been destroyed or damaged.
Corona pandemic
Due to extensive censorship, it is extremely difficult to obtain reliable information on the coronavirus outbreak in East Turkestan.
According to official figures, 980 people have been infected in East Turkistan since the outbreak of coronavirus in China, 6 of whom have died. This number seems extremely low considering the high infection rate in China last year.
"The Guardian" reported that as part of the Chinese government's corona measures, Urmqui residents were forced by authorities to take traditional Chinese medicine. They were also handcuffed to buildings and not allowed to leave their homes for weeks. In addition, there were reports of food shortages.
Uyghur medical personnel were forced to treat corona patients in a hotel transformed into a quarantine center.
During the pandemic, large numbers of Uyghurs and others continued to be transferred for forced labor within China. The number of detentions in the camps also increased.