Are trainees deprived of their rights to exercise religious customs in Xinjiang training centers?

Full of ignorance of and bias against China, some people from the US and other Western countries have recently made groundless accusations against and disseminated many fallacies about China's human rights conditions concerning Xinjiang.

Here is one of the rumors they spread, and the fact.

Rumor: The vocational education and training centers are poorly conditioned and lack medical facilities. The trainees are subjected to forced political indoctrination and torture, and are deprived of their rights to exercise religious customs, use local ethnic languages among others.

Fact:

- The vocational education and training centers strictly follow the basic principle of respecting and protecting human rights enshrined in China's Constitution and other laws. The trainees' basic rights and personal dignity are well protected, and insults or abuse against the trainees in any manner are prohibited. The centers fully guarantee the personal freedom of trainees. The centers are managed as boarding schools where trainees may go home on a regular basis and ask for leave to attend to personal matters, and enjoy the freedom of correspondence.

- Trainees' freedom of religious belief is fully respected and protected at the centers. Those with a religious belief can decide on their own whether to take part in legal religious activities when they are at home.

- The centers fully respect and protect the customs of all ethnic groups and provide a rich variety of nutritious halal food free of charge.

- The trainees' right to use the spoken and written languages of their own ethnicity is fully protected at the centers. All regulations, curricula and canteen menus at the centers are written in both standard Chinese and local ethnic languages.

- The centers have well-equipped facilities. Dorms are furnished with radio, television, and air conditioning or electric fans. Medical facilities are set up to provide free health counseling services and treatment for trainees. There are also venues for basketball, volleyball, table tennis and other sports, cultural venues such as reading rooms, computer rooms and cinemas, as well as venues for performances like auditoriums and open-air stages. Singing and dancing performances of different ethnic groups, sports games and other extra-curricular activities are often held to meet trainees' learning, living and entertainment needs to the greatest extent possible.

- Legal counseling rooms are set up in the centers to help address trainees' law-related difficulties and questions promptly. There are psychotherapy rooms to provide psychological counseling services and care for trainees' mental health. All trainees are covered by old-age, medical and other social insurances and free medical check-ups.