These camps, where as many as 3 million people are detained, are at risk of becoming death chambers. The World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a public health emergency this month, yet China’s government, the WHO and the United Nations are apparently so far silent about the potential danger to the detained Uighurs.
More troubling is that if the virus spreads in the camps, no one in the outside world will likely know how Chinese health officials will respond, or even the extent of the death toll, as no human rights organization or news media have been provided free access to these camps. More than a dozen coronavirus cases have already been reported in Xinjiang, but China has not disclosed whether any of the people in the camps have been infected…
Tursun told me she was moved among three camps during her 2017 detention, but her cell in every camp was dangerously overcrowded. She estimates one such cell was 430 square feet and held about 60 women. It was such a tight space, according to Tursun, that the women were forced to take alternating sleeping and standing shifts.
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