China is continuing to invest in detention camps in Xinjiang, according to a new research report, findings that could bolster calls to punish Beijing over its human rights practices in the predominately Muslim region.
At least 61 suspected detention facilities showed signs of new construction between July 2019 and July 2020, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said in a report released Thursday. Some 14 such centers were still under construction this year after Xinjiang authorities said that all detainees had "graduated,” said ASPI, an Australia- and U.S.-backed research institute that has been tracking the camp network for more than two years.
About half of the recently expanded camps had greater security features, suggesting a shift toward more prison-style facilities from lower-security "re-education centers,” the report found. One 100,000-square-meter (1 million-square-foot) camp that opened in January in Kashgar, near the Kyrgyzstan border, is comprised of 13 five-story residential buildings surrounded by a 14-meter (45-foot) high wall.
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