China’s government is coming under fire again this week, this time for crimes against humanity and genocide against the Uyghur ethnic minority.
A public tribunal called the Uyghur Tribunal concluded this week that China’s government has committed both genocide and crime against humanity.
The Chinese government has used a combination of forced birth control as well as forced sterilization to diminish the Uyghur population. The Tribunal’s harrowing 63-page report said that the sweeping birth prevention measures, therefore, classify as genocide, as stipulated under the United Nations Human Rights laws.
The Tribunal also found evidence of crimes against humanity, torture, and sexual violence committed against the Uyghurs.
The Uyghur Tribunal, set up by a prominent British human rights lawyer, is made up of nine panelists, who are lawyers and academics. The founder of the Tribunal and its leader, Sir Geoffrey Nice, said that the panel was satisfied beyond a doubt that the Chinese authorities carried out a deliberate and systematic policy to target the Uyghur population and enforce a long-term reduction of ethnic minority populations.
Chinese President Xi Jingping and other senior officials hear the primary responsibility for the crimes against the Uyghur people and Muslim minorities, Nice said about the report. The Chinese government continues to deny that it has committed any human rights abuses.
The Uyghur Tribunal’s findings, since coming from an independent organization not sponsored by a government, do not have a legal force to them, nor are they binding to UK ministers. But the report lays the crucial groundwork to hold China accountable.
The Tribunal said that their purpose was the build evidence of China’s crimes and to reach an independent conclusion specifically on genocide.
Following the judgment and release of its findings, prominent UK government officials said that it was time for the UK and allies to formally accuse China of genocide.
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