In China’s northwestern province of Xinjiang, possibly millions of Uighur Muslims, Kazakhs, and other ethnic minorities are being held in secret detention or “re-education” camps. It has been said that the people in these camps have been subject to torture and interrogation, as well as being forced to give up Islam and swear themselves in allegiance with the Communist Party.

They are constantly fed Communist propaganda while being forced to go against their religion by eating pork and drinking alcohol. In addition, they have been subject to forms of torture, shackled, sexually abused, and brainwashed in order to force them to fit into the identity of the Han Chinese that predominantly inhabit the area.

Uighur Muslims, as well as other minorities living in China, have had their traditions and customs violently and forcefully ripped away from them, replaced with forced obedience and promises of loyalty to Chinese Communist Party leader, Xi Jinping.

However, China denies these allegations, calling these camps “vocational training centers” which are being used as a method to counteract terrorism and extremism. In reality, these camps are slowly wiping out these ethnic minorities in a brutal and extreme attempt to “unify” China.

These camps are considered as some of the country’s “worst human rights abuse” ever, so why isn’t this issue plastered across news networks and television screens around the globe? Although the region of Xinjiang is being carefully watched, the Chinese government has managed to keep these camps mostly under wraps, as they control what the journalists can release to the media. However, as time passes, survivors of this cultural genocide have managed to reach safety and share their stories with the world. In addition, journalists around the world have managed to expose the harsh truth and reality of life inside these camps.

In today’s world, it seems as if cultural interconnectedness is growing rapidly, and the acceptance of different races, ethnicities, and religions has become commonplace. While some regions of the world have been more agreeable to adopting this ideology, other regions, such as the province of Xinjiang in China, have closed their doors to the possibility of coexistence with the minority population, using cultural genocide as a lock to seal these doors shut.