BBC Our World 2019 Inside Chinas Camps

The Xinjiang re-education camps, officially called Vocational Education and Training Centers by the government of the People's Republic of China,^[6][7][8] are concentration camps^[4][9][10] that have been operated by the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Regional government for the purpose of interning Uyghur Muslims since 2014.^[1][11] The camps were established under General Secretary Xi Jinping’s administration.^[11][12] They have significantly expanded since a hardline party secretary, Chen Quanguo, took charge of the region in August 2016. These camps are reportedly operated outside of the legal system; many Uyghurs have reportedly been interned without trial and no charges have been levied against them.^[2][13][14] Local authorities are reportedly holding hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs and Muslims from other ethnic minorities in these camps, for the stated purpose of countering extremism and terrorism.^{[15][16][17][18][19]}