The 

Xinjiang internment camps, officially called vocational education and training

centers (Chinese: 职业技能教育培训中心) by the government of China, are internment
camps operated by the government of Xinjiang and the Chinese Communist Party Provincial
Standing Committee. Human Rights Watch says that they have been used to
indoctrinate Uyghurs and other Muslims since 2017 as part of a "people's war on terror", a policy
announced in 2014. The camps have been criticized by the governments of many countries and
human rights organizations for alleged human rights abuses, including mistreatment and torture,
with some of them alleging genocide. Some 40 countries around the world have called on China
to respect the human rights of the Uyghur community, including countries such as Canada,
Germany, Turkey, Honduras and Japan. The governments of more than 35 countries have
expressed support for China's government. Xinjiang internment camps have been described as
"the most extreme example of China's inhumane policies against Uighurs".
The camps were established in 2017 by the administration of CCP general secretary Xi Jinping.
Between 2017 and 2021 operations were led by Chen Quanguo, who was formerly a CCP
Politburo member and the committee secretary who led the region's party committee and
government. The camps are reportedly operated outside the Chinese legal system; many
Uyghurs have reportedly been interned without trial and no charges have been levied against
them (held in administrative detention). Local authorities are reportedly holding hundreds of
thousands of Uyghurs in these camps as well as members of other ethnic minority groups in
China, for the stated purpose of countering extremism and terrorism[28][29] and promoting social
integration.
In 2019, at the United Nations, 54 countries, including China itself, rejected the allegations and
supported the Chinese government's policies in Xinjiang. In another letter, 23 countries shared
the concerns in the committee's reports and called on China to uphold human rights. In
September 2020, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) reported in its Xinjiang Data
Project that construction of camps continued despite government claims that their function was
winding down. In October 2020, it was reported that the total number of countries that denounced
China increased to 39, while the total number of countries that defended China decreased to 45.
Sixteen countries that defended China in 2019 did not do so in 2020.