Mass Uyghur internment was first reported in 2017 (File)
A new report published last week by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) details the role of several Chinese government bodies in carrying out a campaign of repression in the Xinjiang province.
An 82-page research report reveals China's systematic attempt to suppress the Uyghur culture, identity, and population. It is the latest in a mounting body of evidence documenting the large-scale human rights abuses in the Uyghur region.
The report draws on previously unpublished material, local language sources, including police records and budget documents obtained by scraping Chinese government websites.
"Since mass Uyghur internment was first reported in 2017, a rich body of literature has documented the ongoing human rights abuses in Xinjiang. However, there is little knowledge of the government processes or actual perpetrators of these now well-known atrocities, and only a small number of entities or individuals have been identified for their involvement," the report said.
The report highlights the "whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach" to Xinjiang's crackdown, naming an astounding number of offices and officials involved in its repressive policies. "They include obscure agencies such as the Forestry Bureau which looked after Kashgar City's re-education camps' accounts for a year."
A cross-party alliance of parliamentarians from democratic countries called on democratic states to take urgent, coordinated action to protect Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities in the Uyghur Region.