--- description: Human RIghts Watch has called on Beijing to release an undetermined number of Uighur children being arbitrarily held in Xinjiang. title: Rights Group Slams Detention of Uighur Children in Xinjiang image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99111c9b1669cc29/698a02f009208fe94a4158de/gettyimages-1152108730.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [China](/tag/china/) ## China Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Rights Group Calls for the Release of Uighur Children Detained in Xinjiang by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 16, 2019 5:45 AM CUT  This photo taken on June 2, 2019 shows buildings at the Artux City Vocational Skills Education Training Service Center, believed to be a re-education camp where mostly Muslim ethnic minorities are detained, north of Kashgar in China's northwestern Xinjiang region. This photo taken on June 2, 2019 shows buildings at the Artux City Vocational Skills Education Training Service Center, believed to be a re-education camp where mostly Muslim ethnic minorities are detained, north of Kashgar in China's northwestern Xinjiang region.GREG BAKER—AFP/Getty Images by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 16, 2019 5:45 AM CUT A human rights group has called on the Chinese government to release an undetermined number of Uighur children being arbitrarily held in so-called “child welfare” institutions and boarding schools in Xinjiang. In a [statement](https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/09/15/china-xinjiang-children-separated-families "undefined") Monday, the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said “Chinese authorities have housed countless children whose parents are detained or in exile in state-run child welfare institutions and boarding schools without parental consent or access.” An estimated one million Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims are held in Chinese [political reeducation camps](https://time.com/5496435/china-12-diplomats-tour-xinjiang/ "undefined") in Xinjiang. HRW says an additional unknown number are held in prisons and other detention centers. The rights group’s China director, Sophie Richardson, said “The Chinese government’s forced separation of children is perhaps the cruelest element of its oppression in Xinjiang. Children should be either immediately returned to the custody of relatives in China or allowed to join their parents outside the country.” According to HRW, Xinjiang government documents do not indicate whose consent is needed for children to be held in institutions, which government agencies make decisions about removals, or “whether there are procedures for determining consent or challenges to such determinations.” It added that it was “deeply concerned about practices in these facilities that appear to deny children their basic rights and cultural heritage,” pointing out that the children were taught in Chinese instead of their own language, and made to “sing and dance to propagandistic songs.” Beijing’s treatment of Uighurs has been strongly condemned. In July, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo [called](https://time.com/5630180/china-uighurs-mike-pompeo-stain-of-century/ "undefined") China’s treatment of the Muslim minority group the “stain of the century.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5678136/human-rights-watch-children-xinjiang/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5678136/human-rights-watch-children-xinjiang/"},"headline":"Rights Group Calls for the Release of Uighur Children Detained in Xinjiang","datePublished":"2019-09-16T05:45:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T07:22:28.275Z","description":"Human Rights Watch says children are held \"without parental consent or access\"","url":"https://time.com/5678136/human-rights-watch-children-xinjiang/","keywords":["China"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99111c9b1669cc29/698a02f009208fe94a4158de/gettyimages-1152108730.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99111c9b1669cc29/698a02f009208fe94a4158de/gettyimages-1152108730.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"CHINA-XINJIANG-MEDIA-RIGHTS-PRESS","caption":"CHINA-XINJIANG-MEDIA-RIGHTS-PRESS","creditText":"GREG BAKER—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/china/","name":"China"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5678136/human-rights-watch-children-xinjiang/","name":"Rights Group Calls for the Release of Uighur Children Detained in Xinjiang"}}]}] ```