NGO accuses Beijing of illegal imprisonment, torture, murder, and policies of forced labor and sexual violence against this minority
By nationalism and Islamophobia, the Chinese government wants to “sinise” the Moslem minorities by the force, estimates the report
WASHINGTON: China is guilty of “crimes against humanity” in its treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang region, concludes the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a detailed report released Monday.
Beijing detains more than a million Uyghurs in camps scattered around this northwestern region of the country and keeps millions of other Muslims under tight surveillance, says the 53-page report written in cooperation with Stanford University.
“The Chinese government has committed – and continues to commit – crimes against humanity against the Turkish-speaking Muslim population”, adds the report with reference to the majority ethnic groups in this region, Uyghurs but also Kazakhs, Kirghiz and Tajiks.
Beijing thus violates the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which qualifies as a crime against humanity a generalized or systematic attack launched against any civilian population, according to the report which accuses the Chinese authorities of illegal imprisonment, torture and murders, and policies of forced labor and sexual violence against these minorities.
The NGO says that Beijing has been persecuting Uyghurs for more than 20 years, but that the mistreatment of them has intensified since 2013, under the leadership of President Xi Jinping.
By nationalism and Islamophobia, the Chinese government wants to “sinise” the Muslim minorities, conclude researchers from HRW and Stanford, without going so far as to accuse Beijing of “genocide” in Xinjiang as the administration of Joe Biden did, and the parliaments of Belgium, Canada and the Netherlands, as well as other NGOs.
HRW says it has not found proof of “genocidal intent” on the part of Beijing, but points out that could happen.
“If such evidence were to emerge, the acts committed against Turkish-speaking Muslims in Xinjiang – a group protected by the UN convention – could lead to a conclusion of genocide.”
HRW called on the international community to pressure China to change its policy and identify the culprits. The NGO also calls on the UN to create a commission of inquiry.