United Nations Human Rights Council (Middle School)

       This committee is going to be focused on the case of Muslim discrimination regarding  Vocational Education and Training Centers in China that the international committee has been suspicious about for a really long time. This will be important to debate because people are getting treated unfairly just because of what they believe.

       In recent years there has been an increase of violence from the people of Xinjiang towards the Uighur Muslims. In April 2017, the country passed the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Regulation on De-extremification. Shortly after, the Uighrs were massed detained and taken to Vocational Education and Training Centers, mostly in Xinjiang. Currently the Chinese government has detained more than a million muslims they claim to be mild corrective institutions where they go through “transformation through education”. The Vocational Education and Training Centers have the purpose to holds expretismst and speratisit ideas, and as a way to eliminate threats. The Vocational Education and Training Centers official name have been described as boarding schools by Chinese officials. These Vocational Education and Training Centers have also been referred as reeducation centers. According to several inmates the camps are not as described. The people are verbally and physically abused by guards, and they are forced to participate in self-criticizing activities and to pledge their loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). This is so that they will renounce to Islam.

       In China consequences of these issues include international involvement. These methods have caused several countries, especially those in Europe to either criticize or support China’s methods. 22 nations signed a letter calling on Chona to end the detention of Uighurs and expressing their concerns regarding the rights of the people. It was addressed to the UN Human Rights Council and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. On the other hand, 37 countries submitted a letter supporting China’s policies.

      Moreover, these methods have caused several consequences in China, especially in Xinjiang. The government believes these methods are helping reduce violence caused by Islamic Extremists. Meanwhile, those that are detained in the camps it has had a negative impact. The detention has separated families, tearing children away from their parents. Additionally, the people that have been to the Vocational Education and Training Centers say the Vocational Education and Training Centers the treatment towards the inmates is terrible and therefore believe it doesn’t serve the purpose the government hopes for, in fact it may even have an opposite result.