Chinese propaganda of re-education in East Turkistan is a distortion of reality: Uighur rights body

Svenska Uyghur Komitet (SUK), commonly known as the Swedish Uyghur Committee, on Monday criticised the Chinese government for spreading a false story claiming that Uyghurs in East Turkistan are being re-educated to combat terrorism.

The Sweden-based Uighur rights organisation has called such propaganda a distortion of reality to advance China’s agenda against the Uighurs.

According to a statement issued by the committee“The narrative promoted by the Chinese government, which claims that Uighurs in East Turkistan are being “re-educated” to combat terrorism, is a calculated distortion of reality, designed to obscure a far more sinister agenda. These so-called ‘re-education centers’ are, in reality, a vast network of concentration camps where millions of Uighur/Turkic people, including women, men, children, and the elderly, are subjected to the systematic erasure of their cultural and religious identity. This is not an attempt to fight extremism, but a state-sanctioned campaign of genocide, colonization, and forced assimilation.”

Citing a case study, the same statement said that a 15-year-old Uyghur girl was branded a terrorist and sent for re-education, a bizarre fabrication that exposes the extent of China’s repressive machinery. “This is not about national security; it is a deliberate strategy to wipe out the existence of a people. Forced education, organ removal, sterilisation, starvation, executions, mental torment and physical abuse in these camps are designed to break the spirit of the people of East Turkistan and disconnect them from their roots,” the SUK statement said.

Historically an independent country, East Turkistan was invaded and occupied by China in 1949. Since then, it has been subjected to relentless colonialism, systemic oppression and cultural genocide. The kidnapping of over one million Uyghur children, forcibly separating them from their families and placing them in Chinese state-run facilities is a systematic attempt to eradicate Uyghur identity at its core. These children are being deprived of their language, culture and faith and are being molded into tools of the state’s assimilation agenda.

The same statement revealed that “the Chinese government’s use of coerced Uighur testimony in state-sponsored propaganda is another layer of this deception. These people speaking under pressure are pawns in a broader strategy to manipulate global perception and distract attention from ongoing atrocities. This is not a defense against charges of genocide; it is further evidence of a regime willing to weaponize fear and coercion to maintain its grip on power”.

SUK also noted that China’s dismissal of the atrocities committed against the Uighur community as “Western media lies” is a transparent attempt to evade accountability. SUK urged that the international community should recognize that China’s actions in East Turkistan are not just human rights violations. Rather, they are part of a broader strategy of genocide, colonization and occupation aimed at eradicating an entire ethnic group under the pretext of counter-terrorism action. East Turkistan is not Chinese, it has been illegally occupied and is now being systematically eradicated”.

SUK further noted that the global community cannot remain indifferent to China in the face of these atrocities. In the face of such gross violations of international law and human dignity, it is imperative to pierce the veil of propaganda and see these actions for what they are, a well-planned and brutal campaign of genocide, colonisation and occupation. The time for decisive international action is now, before an entire culture is lost to the pages of history.