Sixty-three parliamentarians from the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance of China (IPAC) have urged the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to accept a complaint on alleged genocide of Uyghur Muslims by China.
Representing 14 countries, the complaint brought forward by Rodney Dixon QC details evidence against the Chinese government of suspected genocide and crimes against humanity. This includes the mass incarceration of millions of Uyghurs and Turkic ethnic groups, forced labour, forced sterilisation of women, and numerous repressive measures against Uyghur culture and religion.
The letter states:
“The ICC has a unique ability to adjudicate on alleged genocide and crimes against humanity internationally. We call on the ICC to play its part in ensuring that the perpetrators of the most egregious human rights abuses are held accountable and prevented from acting with impunity.”
China is not a signatory to the ICC, so bringing charges against them is difficult. However, the letter highlights the mass deportation of Uyghur people from ICC Member States such as Tajikistan and Cambodia into China, therefore the ICC can investigate crimes commenced on the territory of an ICC State Party. This precedent was set during the case against Myanmar for crimes against Rohingya Muslims in November 2019. As crimes may have been committed in areas where the Court has jurisdiction, it can in turn investigate China. UK signatories of the IPAC letter include former Conservative party leader Sir Ian Duncan Smith and Labour peer Baroness Helena Kennedy.
Uyghur Genocide
Uyghurs are a largely Muslim ethnic group of around 35 million people, many of whom reside in Xinjiang. Over time they’ve seen their rights and culture eroded in favour of China’s Han majority, but this has intensified over the last decade. Many have tried to flee, but reports started to emerge since 2016 that China was detaining Uyghurs in camps.
China, after first denying the camps exist, has since claimed that they are “re-education camps”, vocational education and training facilities to counter ethnic-group extremism. They deny any allegations of torture, abuse, forced labour and forced sterilisation. Earlier this year, Amnesty International reported that China was targeting Uyghurs aboard through messaging apps and phone calls. Uyghur residents in China are also forced into pressuring their relatives to return, yet others have had their contact cut and have no way of reaching their families.
In a Times report, a Uyghur man recalled an attempt on his life, which he suspects was from China. 30 year-old Yusufjan Amet, was shot in the street in Istanbul by an unknown gunman, and believes China targeted him. Mr Amet is a former detainee of a Chinese internment camp in Xinjiang, but was sent as an informant to Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkey. China has greatly expanded their informant network by using coercive measures, such as Amet’s mother being detained in an attempt to control him. Amet turned against China last year and began exposing their activities to a Uyghur language radio station, Radio Free Asia, which the Chinese government is aware of. Amet is not the only Uyghur abroad that fears for his life. Speaking to the Times, Seyit Tümtürk, a Uyghur activist also based in Turkey, said that there was an attempt on his life as well.
He said, “we have hundreds of brothers that are forced to spy on each other. Chinese policy of harassing Uighur diaspora members happens everywhere from Canada and the US to Europe and Central Asia.”
Turkish President Erdogan was initially critical of China’s treatment of Uyghurs, publicly chastising them until 2017. However, he has since signed numerous trade and financial deals with China, and has stopped advocating support for Uyghurs.
New human rights climate
The case brought to the ICC is said to be an early test of a new human rights climate, given incumbent President Trump’s defeat in the US election and the victory of Democratic candidate Joe Biden.
Trump imposed sanctions on the ICC’s chief prosecutor and another senior official in response to the court’s investigation into US activity in Afghanistan, as well as considering investigating US ally Israel’s actions in Palestine. The ICC found that there was a preliminary case to hear allegations regarding US troops committing torture in secret detention facilities in Afghanistan.
In October, human rights lawyers launched a legal challenge to Trump’s executive order imposing economic sanctions on employees of the war crimes tribunal, arguing it breaches the US constitution. The filing lodged at a New York district court argued that the executive order violates freedom of speech, and prevents the plaintiffs from carrying out work in support of international justice. It named President Trump, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other members of the Trump administration. ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda had been blacklisted by Pompeo.
President elect Biden’s advisors opposed US sanctions on ICC staff, but whether or not he accepts ICC investigations into US actions in Afghanistan is yet to be confirmed. He may remove the sanctions but will likely still oppose the investigation.
See IOHR’s video on London protests against Uyghur genocide: