Sterilised, surveilled, systematically eliminated: the Uyghur have suffered this dystopian reality for so long, and the world has responded with deafening silence.
The Chinese government claims its actions constitute counter-terrorism measures, yet Uyghur have been labelled "extremist" for things like avoiding alcohol. Journalists and activists have previously argued that China's policies against the Uyghur amount to cultural genocide. China may finally face that charge at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
PROSECUTING CHINA FOR GENOCIDE & CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
On 6 July 2020, two Uyghur activist groups, the East Turkistan Government in Exile (ETGE) and the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement (ETNAM), filed a complaint with the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) at the ICC. They called for an investigation against more than 30 senior Chinese officials, including President Xi Jinping, "for genocide and crimes against humanity allegedly committed against the Uyghur and other Turkic peoples".
This is the first attempt at using international law to hold China accountable for its policies towards the Uyghur.
Evidence in the complaint included "descriptions of brutal torture through electrocution, humiliation in the form of being forced to eat pork and drink alcohol, mandatory insertion of IUD birth control for Uyghur women of child-bearing age, of which there is recent evidence of a major increase, and an estimated 500,000 Uyghur children being separated from their families and sent to 'orphanage camps', where there have been credible reports of attempted suicide by the children."
The 80-page filing contains evidence of forced deportations and extraterritorial arrests by Chinese agents as well as reports by the United Nations, Amnesty International, and exile groups.
China is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the international court, and does not recognise ICC jurisdiction. However, the complaint is built on two decisions from 2018 and 2019 around the Myanmar/Rohingya situation. Myanmar, like China, is not a signatory to the ICC. But many Rohingya fled across the border to Bangladesh, a signatory country. The decision in this case held that "under Article 12(2)(a) of the Rome Statute, the Court may exercise jurisdiction, inter alia, if the 'State on the territory of which the conduct in question occurred' is a party to the Statute." The complaint similarly urges the ICC to investigate crimes in Tajikistan and Cambodia, both member states. ETGE argues that "Uyghur victims have been unlawfully deported into occupied East Turkistan from Tajikistan and Cambodia. Upon return to China they have been subjected to crimes together with many other detained Uyghur including murder, unlawful imprisonment, torture, forced birth control and sterilisation, and forced marriages."
Rodney Dixon, the British barrister who drafted the complaint, said "for too long it was assumed that nothing could be done by the world’s criminal court. There is now a clear legal pathway to justice for the millions of Uyghur who are allegedly being persecuted on mass by the Chinese authorities…we urge the ICC Prosecutor to pursue without delay. This chance should not be squandered.”
Recently-published evidence from other sources also suggests that China's policies should be classified as genocide.
THE ZENZ REPORT
In June 2020, Adrian Zenz, a German anthropologist, published a report in The Jamestown Foundation detailing how the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) policies are systematically suppressing Uyghur birth rates. The report was based on "a combination of official regional data, policy documents, and interviews with ethnic minority women in Xinjiang".
The report describes how "population growth in Xinjiang has declined dramatically; growth rates fell by 84 percent in the two largest Uyghur prefectures between 2015 and 2018, and declined further in 2019". It also found that the CCP "Government documents bluntly mandate that birth control violations are punishable by extrajudicial internment in 'training' camps". Further disturbing findings detailed how the CCP's campaign "likely aims to sterilise rural minority women with three or more children, as well as some with two children - equivalent to at least 20 percent of all childbearing-age women".
In his report, Zenz writes that "these findings provide the strongest evidence yet that Beijing’s policies in Xinjiang meet one of the genocide criteria cited in the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, namely that of Section D of Article II: 'imposing measures intended to prevent births within the [targeted] group'."
Zenz's report prompted the launch of a campaign by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), an international, cross-party group of legislators. One of the actions IPAC called for was "a resolution at the United Nations General Assembly to establish an international, impartial, independent investigation into the situation in the Xinjiang region".
Responding to the report in a press statement, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on "all nations to join the United States in demanding an end to these dehumanising abuses".
ALL QUIET ON THE INTERNATIONAL FRONT
A recent op-ed published in The Washington Post pointed out the moral consequences of allowing China to host the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, asking “why should the world sports community honour a country that has committed genocide?” While there has been no formal charge of genocide or crimes against humanity, there is certainly evidence to show that China is committing human rights abuses against the Uyghur.
Apart from the US, other countries have taken few measures to condemn China's policies towards the Uyghur.
On the 17 June 2020, President Donald Trump signed the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act into US law. Part of the Act requires the American President to identify foreign individuals and entities responsible for human rights abuses in Xinjiang and provide a list to Congress. The government can then enforce property and visa-blocking sanctions against anyone on the list. President Trump signed the bill on the same day that an excerpt from his former national security adviser John Bolton's book was released, claiming that President Trump approved Chinese President Xi Jinping's plans for building Uyghur detainment camps.
While the Act may demonstrate US condemnation of China's policies towards the Uyghur, the fact that President Trump recently issued an executive order sanctioning the ICC raises questions about what the U.S. position would be were the ICC to open an investigation based on the complaint filed by Uighur exiles.
It is also difficult to ignore how Muslim-majority countries, who portray themselves as defending the Islamic faith, have failed to effectively criticise China. There is no guarantee that the ICC will even open an investigation, and if they do, China may still fail to cooperate. Given China's resistance towards the jurisdiction issue, international pressure is essential in forcing the CCP to abandon its policies and hold officials accountable. The international community must do more than silently watch as China continues to commit what could be formally-classified as genocide.
Ayesha is a LLB student at the University of Leeds. As an aspiring barrister, she enjoys advocacy and has spoken at platforms including Tedx and GESF. She has a key interest in both Public and International law. She is also founder of a student-led initiative 'COSMOS' that organises projects to promote the UN Sustainable Development Goals.