Prompt: The Uighurs are an ethnic minority living in northwest China, who overwhelmingly practice Islam. They are also subject to significant repression by the Chinese government, with the goal of stamping out their indigenous culture and forcing them to assimilate. Hundreds of thousands have been sent to ‘re-education’ camps. As the New York Times writes, inside these camps, “…ethnic Uighur Muslims spend their days in a high-pressure indoctrination program, where they are forced to listen to lectures, sing hymns praising the Chinese Communist Party and write ‘self-criticism’ essays, according to detainees who have been released. The goal is to remove any devotion to Islam.”
The Economist describes the Chinese treatment of Uighurs as “a massive abuse of human rights.” Is this a coherent attitude to take? Can outsiders criticize Chinese treatment of their own citizens, in their own territory, as human rights abuses? Or is there no shared (or shareable) concept of rights to serve as a basis for such a criticism? Defend your answer carefully and in detail.