detained in internment camps in Xinjiang makes it nearly impossible for people outside of China to trace or confirm the whereabouts of any particular individual. Persons from Xinjiang who are now abroad often have no way to establish the whereabouts of their missing family members.715 They never receive any official confirmation of this from the Chinese authorities. People who have tried to gather information from Chinese consulates abroad have been told to return to China to get information.716 Overseas family members’ lack of information is also due, in large part, to the fact that people living in Xinjiang have essentially been forbidden to speak with their family or friends abroad, especially about anything related to the system of mass detention. (As documented in Chapters 2 and 3, mere communication with anyone abroad is grounds for being sent to an internment camp.) Evidence gathered by journalists, scholars, and other investigators has further demonstrated that three other crimes against humanity may have been committed in Xinjiang: enslavement717; deportation or forcible transfer of population718; and rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or other forms of sexual violence of comparable gravity.
7.2 EVIDENCE OF OTHER SERIOUS VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW Evidence gathered from former detainees and other witnesses interviewed by Amnesty International demonstrates that the Chinese authorities have committed serious violations of human rights, which in addition to underlying many of the crimes against humanity described above, entail state responsibility in their own right. These human rights violations include grave violations of the rights to liberty and security of person; to privacy; to freedom of movement; to opinion and expression; to thought, conscience, religion, and belief; to take part in cultural life; to equality and non-discrimination; and to freedom from forced labour. Amnesty International believes further independent international investigations into these allegations must also be prioritized. In particular, the evidence collected for this report documents serious violations of the following human rights: Freedom of religion and the right to take part in cultural life: The restrictions on religious and cultural practice documented in Chapters 2 and 4 are clear violations of the rights to freedom of religion and to take part in cultural life. These violations include the fact that as part of the apparent campaign to root out Islamic religious practices and to culturally assimilate Muslims in Xinjiang, numerous practices that Muslims widely consider essential to their religion, such as praying and carrying out traditional rituals and ceremonies, are now, in effect, prohibited and are grounds for being sent to an internment camp, though they are not explicitly prohibited by law in Xinjiang. Many former detainees explained that they effectively stopped displaying any signs of being religious for fear of detention or other punishment.
715 Amnesty International, “Nowhere Feels Safe: Uyghurs Tell of China-led Intimidation Campaign Abroad,” 21 February 2020, www.amnesty.org/en/latest/research/2020/02/china-uyghurs-abroad-living-in-fear/; 716 Amnesty International, “Hearts and Lives Broken: The Nightmare of Uyghur Families Separated by Repression,” 19 March 2021, www.amnesty.org/en/latest/research/2021/03/the-nightmare-of-uyghur-families-separated-by-repression/; See also section 6.4 “camp to labour”. 717 “Enslavement” means the exercise of any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership over a person and includes the exercise of such power in the course of trafficking in persons, in particular women and children; for the elements of the crime against humanity of Enslavement see International Criminal Court The Elements of Crimes, Article 7(1)(c), www.icc-cpi.int/NR/rdonlyres/336923D8-A6AD-40ECAD7B-45BF9DE73D56/0/ElementsOfCrimesEng.pdf; See also section 6.4 “camp to labour”. 718 “Deportation or forcible transfer of population” means forced displacement of the persons concerned by expulsion or other coercive acts from the area in which they are lawfully present, without grounds permitted under international law; for the elements of the crime against humanity of deportation of forcible transfer of population see International Criminal Court The Elements of Crimes, Article 7(1)(d) www.icc-cpi. int/NR/rdonlyres/336923D8-A6AD-40EC-AD7B-45BF9DE73D56/0/ElementsOfCrimesEng.pdf; See also text box on “Allegations of sexual violence and violations of reproductive rights”.
“LIKE WE WERE ENEMIES IN A WAR” CHINA’S MASS INTERNMENT, TORTURE AND PERSECUTION OF MUSLIMS IN XINJIANG Amnesty International
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