Hearings begin in London with aim to point allegations of genocide in China
The Chinese state has been accused of crimes against humanity and genocide in Xinjiang, a large region in the country's northwest home to the Uyghurs and other minority Muslim groups. Experts say that at least a million Uyghurs and other Muslims have been detained in the region and held in extra-judicial camps or sent to prisons. Former detainees and residents of Xinjiang have made allegations of torture, mass surveillance, and forced sterilisation. An eight-member panel, chaired by the prominent British barrister Sir Geoffrey Nice, will hear from about 30 witnesses over four days of testimony.
The hearings have no government backing, and the panel's conclusions are not binding on ministers. Still, the organisers say they hope the process will add to the body of evidence around the allegations against China. The panel consists of academics, lawyers, and a former British diplomat. In selecting its members, the organisers intentionally drew from a mix of disciplines and avoided China experts to avoid a risk of prejudgment, Sir Geoffrey said. The hearings, branded by organisers as the Uyghur Tribunal, were arranged by the London-based businessman Nick Vetch. Mr Vetch was previously involved with similar hearings in 2019 that examined allegations of organ harvesting in China.
China denies that abuses are taking place and says its network of camps in Xinjiang are for "re-education" and vocational training purposes. Xu Guixiang, the spokesman for the Xinjiang regional government, called the hearings a "total violation of international law and order, a serious desecration of the victims of real genocide, and a serious provocation to the 25 million people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang".A dozen experts have been invited to give evidence at the hearings, including Dr Darren Byler, an anthropologist at the University of Denver, Colorado; Dr Jo Smith Finley, a reader in Chinese Studies at Newcastle University; Nathan Ruser, a researcher at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute; and Adrian Zenz, who has published reports on forced labour and abortion in Xinjiang.
Dolkun Isa, the president of the World Uyghur Congress, will also give evidence. Mr Isa told privately organised hearings were the only option available for investigating China's actions in Xinjiang because the two international courts which might otherwise take up a case had no plans to do so. In December, the International Criminal Court announced it would not investigate because China, as a non-member, was outside of its jurisdiction. The International Court of Justice can only take a case approved by the UN Security Council, over which China has veto power.
"And not only pay more attention, but take concrete steps like imposing sanctions. This is the moral obligation of all countries," he said."If there is a question about my niece, I will be happy to answer it. That is the personal side, the suffering," Mr Ayup said."What we hope to achieve is to provide facts that others may use," he said. "The tribunal will not go further than that, it will not look outside the crimes it has been asked to investigate, and it will not overreach by making recommendations about what others should or shouldn't do. It will simply provide facts for others to use."
The US State Department has previously described China's actions in Xinjiang as a genocide. The UK, Canada, Netherlands, and Lithuania have passed resolutions making the same declaration. Others have argued that genocide is a specific term with legal force that a criminal court should only determine.
The case for genocide is based on reports that China is taking steps to erase the culture of the Uyghurs and assimilate or diminish the population through programmes of forced relocation and birth control. In a report published in April, the US-based charity Human Rights Watch concluded that China was responsible for crimes against humanity in Xinjiang but stopped calling the state's actions a genocide.
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