Newlines Institute: China Responsible for Uyghur Genocide

Ankara, MINA – China is suspected of committing genocide against the Uyghur community in the Xinjiang autonomous region, a new US-based Newlines Institute report which was released on Tuesday.

The report, “The Uyghur Genocide: An Examination of China Breaches of the 1948 Genocide Convention,” cites an extensive review of available evidence and the application of international law to evidence on the ground, Anadolu Agency reports.

Experts have examined China shouldering state responsibility for violations of Article II of the Genocide Convention.

“Following the application of the provisions of the Genocide Convention to the body of evidence presented here, this report concludes, on the basis of a clear and compelling standard of evidence, that China is responsible for violating every provision of Article II of the Convention, Genocide,” the report said.

The article of the convention defines genocide as “when one of the acts mentioned is carried out with the intention necessary to destroy, in whole or in part, such a protected group.”

The intent is measured by objective standards, including official statements, policies, general plans, patterns of behavior, and repetitive destructive actions, which have a logical order.

The report says President Xi Jinping is waging a “People’s War on Terror” in the region and turning Uyghur-concentrated areas at the forefront, arguing that extremism is entrenched in Uyghur society.

“Camp guards are reportedly following orders to enforce a system that applies until the Kazakh, Uyghur and other Muslim countries will disappear, until all Muslim countries will become extinct,” he said.

“High-ranking officials give orders to round up all those who must be arrested, annihilate them completely, destroy their roots and branches, and destroy their bloodlines and cut their connections,” the report added.

China has been widely accused of placing Uyghurs in camps, and there have been reports of forced sterilization of Uyghur women.

Human rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW), accuse Beijing of oppressing China’s 12 million Uighurs, most of whom are Muslim.

Many Uighurs, around 1 million to 1.6 million, according to the World Uyghur Congress, have left China to live abroad.

China itself has repeatedly denied allegations that it operates detention camps in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, home to the Uighur community, and has instead claimed that it is “re-educating” Uyghurs. (T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)