Human Rights Watch has not documented the existence of the necessary genocidal intent at this time. The United States State Department and the parliaments of Canada and the Netherlands have determined that China’s conduct also constitutes genocide under international law. The oppression continues outside the detention facilities: the Chinese authorities impose on Turkic Muslims a pervasive system of mass surveillance, controls on movement, arbitrary arrest and enforced disappearance, cultural and religious erasure, and family separation. Detainees and prisoners are subjected to torture and other ill-treatment, cultural and political indoctrination, and forced labor. Courts have handed down harsh prison sentences without due process, sentencing Turkic Muslims to years in prison merely for sending an Islamic religious recording to a family member or downloading e-books in Uyghur. As many as a million people have been arbitrarily detained in 300 to 400 facilities, which include “political education” camps, pretrial detention centers, and prisons. The Chinese government’s oppression of Turkic Muslims is not a new phenomenon, but in recent years has reached unprecedented levels. According to the 2010 census, Uyghurs made up 46 percent and Kazakhs 7 percent of the Xinjiang population. Unlike the majority Han Chinese, who are primarily Chinese speakers, the Turkic population is predominantly Muslim and have their own languages. The Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other communities in the region are ethnically Turkic. The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, located in China’s northwest, is the only region in China with a majority Muslim population. The specific crimes against humanity documented in this report include imprisonment or other deprivation of liberty in violation of international law persecution of an identifiable ethnic or religious group enforced disappearance torture murder and alleged inhumane acts intentionally causing great suffering or serious injury to mental or physical health, notably forced labor and sexual violence. Crimes against humanity can be committed during peace time as well as during armed conflict, so long as they are directed against a civilian population.Ĭrimes against humanity are considered among the gravest human rights abuses under international law. A “systematic” attack indicates a pattern or methodical plan. “Widespread” refers to the scale of the acts or number of victims. Under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), crimes against humanity are serious specified offenses that are knowingly committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against any civilian population. This report sets forth the factual basis for that conclusion, assessing available information about Chinese government actions in Xinjiang within the international legal framework. Research by Stanford Law School’s Human Rights & Conflict Resolution Clinic and Human Rights Watch, along with reports by human rights organizations, the media, activist groups, and others, and internal Chinese Communist Party (CCP) documents, show that the Chinese government has committed-and continues to commit-crimes against humanity against the Turkic Muslim population. In May 2014, the Chinese government launched the “Strike Hard Campaign against Violent Terrorism” (严厉打击暴力恐怖活动专项行动) in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang or XUAR) against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims. Maisumujiang Maimuer, Chinese religious affairs official, August 10, 2017, on a Xinhua Weibo page Completely shovel up the roots of “two-faced people,” dig them out, and vow to fight these two-faced people until the end. Break their lineage, break their roots, break their connections, and break their origins.
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