Washington: Chinese actions in Xinjiang against the Uyghur minority have violated every single provision in the United Nations’ Genocide Convention, according to an independent report by over 50 global experts.
The report released early this week by the Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy think tank in Washington DC, claimed the Chinese government “bears state responsibility for an ongoing genocide against the Uyghur in breach of the (UN) Genocide Convention”, CNN reported.
It is the first time a non-governmental organisation has undertaken an independent legal analysis of the accusations of genocide in Xinjiang, including what responsibility Beijing may bear for the alleged crimes.
The UN Genocide Convention was approved by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1948 and has a clear definition of what constitutes “genocide.” Article II of the four-page convention states genocide is an attempt to commit acts “with an intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”
China has been rebuked globally for cracking down on Uyghur Muslims by sending them to mass detention camps, interfering in their religious activities and sending members of the community to undergo some form of forcible re-education or indoctrination.
Last month, The Biden administration declared Chinese actions against the Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang as ‘genocide’.
In a 2020 report on Human rights practices: China released, the US Department of State said: “Genocide and crimes against humanity occurred during the year against the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang”.
In February, Canada’s House of Commons voted overwhelmingly to declare China’s treatment of its Uyghur minority population a genocide. The motion — which passed 266 to 0 — was supported by all opposition parties and a handful of lawmakers from the governing Liberal Party.
The Netherlands Parliament too had passed a motion saying the Chinese treatment of the Uyghur minority is a “genocide”. The Netherlands becomes the first European country to take such a move.
Beijing, on the other hand, has vehemently denied that it is engaged in human rights abuses against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang while reports from journalists, NGOs and former detainees have surfaced, highlighting the Chinese Communist Party’s brutal crackdown on the ethnic community.