- Chinese official has rejected allegations of internment camps in Xinjiang region. The response comes in the backdrop of estimates cited by a UN panel. The UN panel has reported that nearly one million Uighurs are being held in detention centres in Xinjiang.
- Xinjiang is an administrative region in north-western China. The region borders eight countries – Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. The population in Xinjiang is predominantly Uighurs. Uighurs are ethnically Turkic Muslims.
- In response to large-scale ethnic rioting and attacks in Xinjiang since 2009, China has enhanced security in the region to combat terrorism, extremism and separatism.
- Of late, China has been repeatedly accused of detaining Uighur Muslims and other Muslim groups in the western Xinjiang region. However, China has always maintained that there are no internment camps. China has advocated that people in Xinjiang are receiving “vocational training” in “re-education camps”
