GENEVA (26 September 2023) – UN experts* today expressed grave concern over allegations of a significant expansion of
Xinjiang's State-run boarding school system, which fails to provide education in the children’s mother tongue and
forcibly separates Uyghur and other minority Muslim children from their families and communities, leading to their
forced assimilation.
"We are deeply concerned that boarding schools in Xinjiang are teaching almost exclusively in the official language with
little or no use of Uyghur as medium of instruction and that the separation of mainly Uyghur and other minority children
from their families could lead to their forced assimilation into the majority Mandarin language and the adoption of Han
cultural practices,” the UN experts said, stressing the discriminatory nature of the policy and the violation of
minorities’ right to education without discrimination, family life and cultural rights.
The experts received information about large-scale removal of children, mainly Uyghur, from their families, including
very young children whose parents are in exile or “interned”/detained. These children are treated as “orphans” by State
authorities and placed in full-time boarding schools, pre-schools, or orphanages where the language used is almost
exclusively Mandarin (Putonghua).
“Uyghur and other minority children in highly regulated and controlled boarding institutions may have little interaction
with their parents, extended family or communities for much of their youth,” the experts said.
“This will inevitably lead to a loss of connection with their families and communities and undermine their ties to their
cultural, religious and linguistic identities,” they said.
Uyghur children placed in these boarding schools reportedly have little or no access to education in the Uyghur language
and are under increasing pressure to speak and learn only Mandarin (Putonghua), as opposed to education aimed at
achieving bilingualism in both Uyghur and Mandarin. Teachers can also be sanctioned for using the Uyghur language
outside of specific language classes.
The UN experts were also informed of the exponential increase in the number of boarding schools for other Muslim and
minority children in Xinjiang in recent years, and the closure of local schools where education through the medium of
Uyghur and other minority languages could be provided. “The massive scale of the allegations raises extremely serious
concerns of violations of basic human rights,” they said.
The experts have been in contact with the Chinese Government regarding these issues.
*The experts: Mr. Fernand de Varennes, Special Rapporteur on minority issues; Ms. Alexandra Xanthaki, Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, and Ms. Farida Shaheed, Special Rapporteur on education.