All religious establishments in China will be bound by the new Regulations for Religious Affairs that came into force on 1 February amid reports that Christians are being sent to ‘re-education’ camps to re-orientate people to be loyal to the communist ideology.
More than 100 Christians have been sent to ‘re-education’ camps in China’s north-western Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the past few months.
In these camps, also known as ‘study centres’ or ‘mind-transformation centres’, they are taught how to be loyal to the communist ideology. Most of those detained in the camps are from the Uyghur ethnic minority group and have a Muslim background. In recent years the Uyghurs have been the prime targets of the government’s ‘anti-terror’ campaign, aimed at cracking down on both separatist groups and militant Islamists. But those who have converted to Christianity have also been caught up in the crackdown.
