Its country report for China said more than a million Uyghurs and members of mainly Muslim ethnic minority groups had been arbitrarily imprisoned, deprived of their physical liberty, and subjected to forced sterilization, coerced abortions and rape. Beijing's repressive policies in northwest China also included "draconian restrictions on freedom of religion or belief, freedom of expression, and freedom of movement," said the report covering 2021.
An additional two million Muslims were forcibly enrolled in daytime "re-education" classes, the document said. China justifies the practice—now in its sixth year—as part of a region-wide campaign to root out terrorism and religious extremism. Xinjiang's more than 1,000 internment camps, Beijing says, are "vocational training centers," from which learners "graduate" and are assigned work, either locally or in other provinces, in a move the U.S. considers forced labor.
