From the Heritage Foundation, I'm Tim Desher, and this is Heritage Explains.

And this is Heritage Explains.

In part one of this two-part series,

I spoke with heritage expert Olivia Enos about Uyghur Muslims in China and the Chinese Communist Party's attempt to completely destroy and erase their unique identity.

In spite of the Uyghurs' centuries of longstanding tradition and practice of faith in China, in 2017, the Communist Party began to take Uyghurs from their homes and forced them into concentration camps for re-education.

In addition, the Xinjiang province has become a bona fide police state that is constantly watching and listening to nearly every move and conversation.

It's alarming that what we would consider to probably be some of the worst human rights violations in the 21st century are happening right before our eyes,

and it's just not receiving the attention that it deserves.

Right now, there are between 1.8 and 3 million Uyghur Muslims held in political reeducation

facilities predominantly in Xinjiang, China.

And when they go to these facilities, they're subject to indoctrination, self-criticism,

required Mandarin lessons, some are allegedly subject to torture.

Some have even died while being held in detention.

And we're now starting to see unbelievable evidence of the Chinese Communist Party's

intent to destroy in whole or in part the Uyghurs.

Over the last few weeks, as Olivia and I talked about this issue, it became apparent that

while reporting is necessary and good, it doesn't fully put this

devastating situation in context. We needed more. Enter Ziba Marat. The last time Ziba heard from her mother,

Gelshan Abbas, was September 11, 2018.

Ziba, who was living in the U.S. at the time,

texted a picture of her young daughter to

Gulshan living in Xinjiang.

...