Xinjiang Police Files: Summary & Policy Recommendations

A large cache of tens of thousands of files leaked to the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC) from directly inside Xinjiang police networks, named the Xinjiang Police Files, contains unprecedented new information about the security and operations of the internment camps. The file cache was authenticated and analyzed by Dr. Adrian Zenz, Senior Fellow and Director of China studies at VOC, in two peer-reviewed academic papers published in the Journal of the European Association for Chinese Studies and in ChinaFile. The findings were also analyzed in partnership with several major investigative media outlets. The leaked files include the following images, official documents, and high-level speeches, a select portion of which can be viewed and downloaded at www.XinjiangPoliceFiles.org:

1. Photographs:

• Photo material with over 7,000 images of camp activity, including police drills, weaponry such as machine guns and large clubs, 2,800+ images of detainees, including women and children as young as 15 years old, some minded by armed police, some in colored vests sitting behind bars, and some whom appear to have been harshly beaten.

2. Official documents:

• Detailed police instructions for securitization of the internment camps, including how to guard detainees, use weaponry such as sniper rifles and large clubs, prevent escape, during any escape attempts when to shoot, how detainees are treated, including medically, and how detainee calls with family members are restricted and monitored. Vast spreadsheets in the files also include a high level of detail on over 100,000 detainees, including the personal information and status of 8,000 detainees of a single vocational training center in Konasheher county.

3. Official transcripts:

• Raw transcripts of confidential internal Communist Party messages and speeches that implicate officials from the prefecture level to the highest levels of the Beijing central government in the Xinjiang atrocity and may be used to demonstrate intent.

Collectively the documents conclusively demonstrate that what China has labeled as “vocational training centers” are in fact run like prisons. The evidence derived from these images show in unprecedented detail the arbitrary nature with which Uyghurs and other minorities are labeled as “extremist” for ordinary, non-violent behavior and cultural or religious expression, treated as dangerous criminals, and targeted for detention, internment, and imprisonment in large numbers. The documents also give unprecedented insight into the intent and thinking of the Chinese government officials implicated at the highest levels.

RECOMMENDATIONS

To International Governments:

• Sanction the Chinese officials implicated by these files at the highest levels.
  • The speeches uncovered in these files contain constant references to General Secretary Xi himself, including his close interest and guiding role in the governance of Xinjiang.  
  • No central government officials have yet been sanctioned for their implication in the internment of Uyghurs. Below is a table of the officials implicated by the files including reference to the implicating evidence. The table includes the following key central government officials:
    • Minister of Public Security in Beijing, Zhao Kezhi
    • Wang Yang, head of the Central Xinjiang Work Coordination Small Group 
    • Guo Shengkun, head of China’s Political and Legal Affairs Commission 

• Publicly demand the release of all detainees documented in the files including highlighting individuals by name, and press Beijing to provide proof of life to the families of those detained.

• At the upcoming June Human Rights Council Session of the United Nations, members of the Human Rights Council should introduce a resolution condemning China’s genocide against Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang, as a number of governments around the world have already done including Canada, France, Lithuania, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
• The European Union and other allies should follow the United States in prohibiting the importation of goods made with forced labor in Xinjiang. The European Union is currently considering such due diligence legislation, and the national governments of Europe should express support for such a mechanism to the European Commission and for other governments around the world to also follow suit in implementing such a measure.
• The 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation should issue a strong statement condemning the genocide and crimes against humanity Beijing is committing against Uyghurs and take appropriate action such as sanctions on the implicated officials.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):

• Meet core minimum standards based on the 1998 terms of reference for the High Commissioner’s visit to Xinjiang to ensure it is a credible and meaningful visit, as outlined in a joint statement by 60 human rights organizations. These standards include fully unhindered access to all areas in Xinjiang including all detention facilities, prisons, so-called vocational training centres and sites of suspected forced labor, and release the terms of the visit negotiated with the Chinese government publicly.
• Visit the camps and facilities referenced in the Xinjiang Police Files.
• Include in the overdue report on Xinjiangall available evidence of the genocide and human rights abuses taking place in Xinjiang, including the latest evidence outlined in these files.
• Publicly demand the release of all detainees documented in the files including highlighting individuals by name, and press Beijing to provide proof of life to the families of those detained.

To International Businesses Operating in Xinjiang:

• Every international business with operations or business dealings with China should fully implement the recommendations in the U.S. Department of State Xinjiang Supply Chain Business Advisory, outlining specific steps to avoid complicity in the Chinese government’s forced labor scheme and human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
• Fully extricate supply chains from the Uyghur Region and operate according to the rebuttable presumption standard as enacted by the United States in the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act of 2021, and as outlined in the Call to Action of the Coalition to End Uyghur Forced Labor. Operating in the Uyghur Region in accordance with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights has become a practical impossibility. There are no valid means for companies to verify that any workplace in the Uyghur Region is free of forced labor or to prevent the use of forced labor in these workplaces in line with human rights due diligence.

To the Chinese Government:

• Immediately release all detainees from the so-called re-education camps and prisons, permanently close the internment facilities, cease and desist from all forced labor and coercive “poverty alleviation” schemes, prosecute the officials responsible in accordance with international law, and restore full respect for Uyghur culture and identity.

IMPLICATED OFFICIALS