Children of parents detained in China's vast system of"re-education camps" in the far west region of Xinjiang are being separated from their families and placed in huge, purpose-built boarding schools.
In one township where ethnic Uyghurs constitute a majority of the local population, government data show that"well over 400 minors have both parents in some form of internment, with many others having one parent interned," Zenz wrote in his report,"Break Their Roots: Evidence for China's Parent-Child Separation Campaign in Xinjiang," he added. The report was published in The Journal of Political Risk.
A spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry denied that children were being separated from other relatives that could serve as guardians in a statement to CNN Friday. Up to 2 million people are estimated to have been detained in Xinjiang since early 2017. Activists and former detainees have described mass camps in Xinjiang where inmates live in jail-like conditions and receive repetitive lessons in Chinese propaganda.
"Driven by multi-billion dollar budgets, tight deadlines, and sophisticated digital database systems, this unprecedented campaign has enabled Xinjiang's government to assimilate and indoctrinate children in closed environments by separating them from their parents," Zenz said."This separation can take various forms and degrees, including full daycare during work days, entire work weeks, and longer-term full-time separation.
Speaking to the BBC, which commissioned part of Zenz's research, a senior official with Xinjiang's Propaganda Department denied there were many families where both parents had been detained.