Main content

What is happening to the Uighurs in China?

China is accused of grossly violating the human rights of Muslims in Xinjiang, from mass-detention to forced labour. David Aaronovitch examines what's happening to the Uighurs.

The Chinese Communist Party is accused of locking up hundreds of thousands of Uighurs in internment camps. In the Uighurs' homeland in Xinjiang, the state operates a system of mass-surveillance and is accused of human rights abuses against the mainly Muslim minority including forced labour and compulsory birth control.

China says the camps are not prisons but schools for 鈥榯hought transformation鈥� and it continues to deny the abuse of human rights.

David Aaronovitch asks leading experts what鈥檚 going on in Xinjiang and how is the rest of the world responding:

Rian Thum, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Nottingham
Dr Jo Smith Finley, Senior Lecturer in Chinese Studies at Newcastle University
Josh Chin deputy China Bureau Chief for the Wall Street Journal
Charles Parton Senior Associate Fellow at RUSI

Producers: Kirtseen Knight, Beth Sagar Fenton, Joe Kent
Studio manger: James Beard
Editor: Jasper Corbett.

Available now

28 minutes

Last on

Thu 16 Jul 2020 20:00
麻豆社 Radio 4

More episodes

Previous

Can the NHS recover from coronavirus?

Next

The UK's place in the world

See all episodes from The Briefing Room

  • Documents detail China's systematic brainwashing of hundreds of thousands of Muslims.

  • China and the Pandemic

    How have China's relations with other countries changed since the arrival of the virus?

  • Should we worry about Huawei?

    Does Chinese telecoms giant Huawei present a threat to national security?

Broadcast

  • Thu 16 Jul 2020 20:00
    麻豆社 Radio 4

Podcast

  • The Briefing Room

    David Aaronovitch presents in-depth explainers on big issues in the news.