‘Credible’ case of Chinese government genocide against Uighur Muslims, say UK lawyers
‘Credible’ case of Chinese government genocide against Uighur Muslims, say UK lawyers
The British government has so far stopped short of invoking the term "genocide", arguing only courts can make that legal definition.
3 min read
The 100-page document was written by top British barristers [Getty]
A new legal assessment published in the UK has concluded that there is a "very credible case" that China is committing genocide against its Uighur Muslim community.
The 100 page-document, written by top barristers at Essex Court Chambers in London and first reported by the BBC, is thought to be the first formal legal assessment in the UK of Beijing's activities in its western province of Xinjiang.
"On the basis of the evidence we have seen, this Opinion concludes that there is a very credible case that acts carried out by the Chinese government against the Uighur people in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region amount to crimes against humanity and the crime of genocide", the document said.
The opinion is based on a legal assessment over six months of publicly available evidence from governments, international organisation, scholars and the media.
The Global Legal Action Network, a human rights campaign group, the World Uighur Congress and the Uighur Human Rights Projects jointly commissioned the assessment.
The reported included first-hand witness testimony, satellite imagery and leaks by the Chinese government, providing evidence for the "enslavement, torture, rape, enforced sterilisation and persecution" of the Uighurs, including the administration of electric shocks and food deprivation.
Evidence for mass forced sterilisation as part of a plan for population control "clearly constitute a form of genocidal conduct", the opinion states. The same applies to forcible transfer of children from one group to another, including subjecting them to adoption by Han ethnic families, it adds.
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The assessment also holds President Xi Jingping and two Chinese officials responsible for "crimes against humanity", pointing to the Chinese leader's "overall direction of state policy" and the officials' role in "devising and implementing" that policy.
As an opinion, the document does not have legal standing but it can be used as a basis for legal action.
It may offer a roadmap for British judges to follow if London's parliament agrees to allow the High Court to decide on matters of genocide, according to the BBC.
MP's will vote on the new legislation on Tuesday.
The British government has so far stopped short of invoking the term "genocide", arguing only courts can make that legal definition.
Washington's state department under former President Donald Trump determined that Beijing is carrying out genocide in Xinjiang, where rights groups say more than one million Uighurs and other most Muslim Turkic-speaking people have been rounded up in camps.
New US secretary of state Anthony Blinken reportedly expressed the same view in the first conversation between top US and Chinese officials since President Joe Biden took office.
Read more: Blinken challenges China on Uighur human rights abuses in first US diplomatic call
A day earlier, both the US and UK vowed to act after a BBC investigation detailed harrowing accounts of torture and violence against Uighur women in Chinese camps
The Chinese foreign ministry slammed the BBC report as "false".
China's government has acknowledged the existence of camps but says there are vocational training centres aimed at reducing the appeal of extremism and separatism. It strongly denies allegations of abuse.
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