UN Issues Report On Human Rights Concerns In China's Uyghur Region

On Wednesday, the United Nations Human Rights Office issued a report on human rights concerns in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. (Full text of report.) A portion of the report focuses on restrictions on religious expression, and says in part:

The “Strike Hard” campaign has led to the adoption or amendment of various legal instruments to further tighten the regulation of religion.... “[E]xtremism” is defined broadly, while the legal instruments include a list of “primary expressions of extremism” that have in practice been accompanied by lists of “signs” of “religious extremism” to assist officials and the general public in identifying “extremist” behaviour.... These ... include conduct that may in the circumstances be of legitimate concern, such as “inciting ‘Jihad’, advocating and carrying out violent terrorist activities”, but range far more widely, encompassing an exceptionally broad range of acts that in themselves constitute exercise of protected fundamental freedoms connected to the enjoyment of cultural and religious life by these communities. These include wearing hijabs and “abnormal” beards; expanding the scope of “Halal”; closing restaurants during Ramadan; participating in cross-county religious activities “without valid reason”; using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), social media and Internet to teach scriptures and preach; and giving one’s child a Muslim name....

Such exceptionally broad interpretations of “extremism”, often explicitly targeting standard tenets of Islamic religion and practice, in effect renders virtually all such conduct in potential breach of the regulation of religion....  An environment is thus created in which religious or cultural practice or expression is conflated with “extremism” ....

Alongside the increasing restrictions on expressions of Muslim religious practice are recurring reports of the destruction of Islamic religious sites, such as mosques, shrines and cemeteries....

China filed a 122-page response (full text) to the report contending that China is fighting terrorism and extremism. It says in part:

Religious extremists advocate extremist ideologies, incite hatred against other religions and "heretics", and undermine Xinjiang's religious harmony and ethnic unity.

AP reports on these developments.

U.S. Imposes New Sanctions On China For Repression Of Ethnic And Religious Minorities

On Monday, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced (full text of press statement) that the U.S. is imposing new sanctions on Chinese officials for human rights violations. He said in part:

The Department of State is taking action against PRC officials for their involvement in repressive acts against members of ethnic and religious minority groups and religious and spiritual practitioners inside and outside of China’s borders, including within the United States....

Today’s action imposes visa restrictions on PRC officials who are believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, policies or actions aimed at repressing religious and spiritual practitioners, members of ethnic minority groups, dissidents, human rights defenders, journalists, labor organizers, civil society organizers, and peaceful protestors in China and beyond....

We call on the PRC government to end its ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, repressive policies in Tibet, crackdown on fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong, and human rights violations and abuses, including violations of religious freedom, elsewhere in the country.

CBS News reports on the State Department's action.

China Imposes Sanctions On USCIRF Commissioners

Radio Free Asia reports that yesterday China imposed sanctions on the chair, vice-chair and two commissioners of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. They will be barred from entering China, and any assets they hold in China will be frozen.  The move comes in response to recent sanctions imposed on Chinese officials by the U.S. Treasury Department because of human rights abuses against Uyghurs and members of other predominantly Muslim ethnic minority groups in Xinjiang Region. USCIRF issued a press release condemning the Chinese government's action.

Congress Passes Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act

On Thursday, the U.S. Senate gave final passage to H.R. 6256, The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (full text). The bill now goes to President Biden for his signature. It calls for development of a strategy:

to ensure that goods mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part with forced labor in the People’s Republic of China, including by Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Tibetans, and members of other persecuted groups in the People’s Republic of China, and especially in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, are not imported into the United States.

It also calls for development of guidance for importers. National Law Review has more details.

People's Tribunal In Britain Finds China Guilty Of Genocide Against Uyghurs

The Uyghur Tribunal, an independent People's Tribunal set up last year in Britain to investigate China’s actions against Uyghur, Kazakh and other Turkic Muslim populations, yesterday issued a 63-page Summary Judgment (full text). It concluded:

180. Torture of Uyghurs attributable to the PRC is established beyond reasonable doubt.

181. Crimes against humanity attributable to the PRC is established beyond reasonable doubt by acts of: deportation or forcible transfer; imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty; torture; rape and other sexual violence; enforced sterilisation; persecution; enforced disappearance; and other inhumane acts.

It then went on to find China guilty of genocide through its imposed birth control and sterilization policies designed to reduce the Uyghur population. Article II(d) of the Genocide Convention includes in the definition of Genocide: " Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group." The Tribunal said in part:

190. Accordingly, on the basis of evidence heard in public, the Tribunal is satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the PRC, by the imposition of measures to prevent births intended to destroy a significant part of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang as such, has committed genocide.

191. This Judgment, with no evidence of any mass killing, may be thought to diminish the perceived status of genocide as a crime. In one way it may do that, and if so, in one way, not necessarily a bad thing. The use of superlatives ... when attached to tragedy brings public attention, sometimes at a cost to other tragedies able to attract less attention despite being as serious.

The Tribunal however expressed some unease over its genocide finding, saying in part:

183. The Tribunal recognises that this may be the first public evidence-based determination of a genocide under Article II(d) of the Convention (or of crimes under statutes in similar terms).

184. The Tribunal would, as a whole, prefer not to make such a finding and to allow findings of genocide in law to match more closely the likely general public understanding of the word.

185. The Tribunal recognises that a finding of genocide based on control of childbirth may even seem to some close to lawful management by governments of societies elsewhere; in the back of some minds might be awkward and uncomfortable considerations of worldwide unsustainable population growth.

White House Announces Diplomatic Boycott Of Olympics To Protest Uyghur Genocide

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki announced on Monday a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics to protest genocide being committed against the Uyghurs and other religious minorities in Xinjiang province:

The Biden administration will not send any diplomatic or official representation to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games given the PRC’s ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses. 

The athletes on Team USA have our full support.  We will be behind them 100 percent as we cheer them on from home.  We will not be contributing to the fanfare of the Games. 

U.S. diplomatic or official representation would treat these Games as business as usual in the face of the PRC’s egregious human rights abuses and atrocities in Xinjiang. And we simply can’t do that. 

As the President has told President Xi, standing up for human rights is in the DNA of Americans.  We have a fundamental commitment to promoting human rights.  And we feel strongly in our position, and we will continue to take actions to advance human rights in China and beyond.

Senate Holds Hearings On Atrocities Against Uyghurs

Yesterday the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a joint subcommittee hearing on atrocities against the Uyghurs in China's  Xinjiang province. A video of the hearing titled Atrocities in Xinjiang: Where Do We Go From Here? is available online from the Committee's website. Prepared written testimony of committee witnesses is also available at the website.

Britain's House of Commons Says China Is Guilty of Genocide

Britain's House of Commons yesterday adopted a resolution (full text of debate and resolution) declaring that China has committed genocide in its treatment of the Uyghurs. the Resolution reads:

That this House believes that Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region are suffering crimes against humanity and genocide; and calls on the Government to act to fulfil its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide and all relevant instruments of international law to bring it to an end.

Reuters reports on Parliament's action.

Treasury Department Imposes Sanctions On Chinese Officials Over Uyghur Human Rights

The Treasury Department announced yesterday that its Office of Foreign Assets Control has imposed sanctions on two Chinese government officials in connection with human rights abuses against ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The officials sanctioned are Wang Junzheng and Chen Mingguo who are connected with arbitrary detention and severe physical abuse targeting Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in the region.

Think Tank Issues New Report On Uyghur Genocide

Newlines Institute for Policy and Strategy, a D.C. think tank, this week issued a 55-page report (full text) titled The Uyghur Genocide: An Examination of China’s Breaches of the 1948 Genocide Convention. According to the Report's Introduction:

This report concludes that the People’s Republic of China ... is committing an ongoing genocide against the Uyghur ethnic group, in violation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.... The report examines key pertinent developments in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region ... from May 2013, when the XUAR Government released the earliest known document laying the groundwork for the mass internment campaign, to the present. These events follow a long history of persecution against the Uyghurs in China. The report specifically considers the question of State responsibility under international law for breaches of the Genocide Convention, not the individual criminal liability of particular leaders or perpetrators.

Canada's House of Commons Declares China's Actions Against Uighurs To Be Genocide

Yesterday Canada's House of Commons passed a non-binding resolution (full text) declaring that China's actions against its Uighur and other Turkic Muslim minorities-- including detention camps and measures intended to prevent births constitute genocide. The Global News reports:

The Conservative motion passed overwhelmingly in the House of Commons with 266 votes to zero. The Liberal cabinet abstained from voting.

An amendment to the motion, proposed by Bloc Quebecois MP Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, calling on the International Olympic Committee to move the 2022 Olympic Games out of China if the genocide continues also passed 229 to 29 votes.

Secretary of State Pompeo Declares Chinese Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide Against Uyghurs

Yesterday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the State Department has concluded that since March 2017 China has committed crimes against humanity against the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other members of ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang. These crimes remain ongoing.  The State Department has also concluded that China has-- and continues to-- commit genocide against the Muslim Uyghurs and other minority groups in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Western China. 

Turkistani Exiles Ask International Criminal Court To Investigate Genocide Against Uyghurs

According to a press release issued on July 6:

Today, lawyers representing the East Turkistan Government in Exile (ETGE) and the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement (ETNAM) have submitted a lengthy Complaint to the ICC [International Criminal Court] asking the OTP [Office of the Prosecutor] to open an investigation into Genocide and other Crimes Against Humanity allegedly committed against the Uyghur and other Turkic peoples of East Turkistan by senior Chinese Leaders including President Xi Jinping.

New York Times reports on developments.

Congress Passes Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act

Congress yesterday gave final passage to the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 (full text). The bill now goes to the President for his signature. The bill addresses China's human rights violations targeted at Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other Muslim minority groups in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. It calls on the President and the State Department to take specific actions against China, including designating China as a country of particular concern under the International Religious Freedom Act. The bill also calls for various reports on the topic to be submitted to Congress and the imposition of sanctions on foreigners responsible for these human rights violations.

Uyghur Rights Advocate Appointed To USCIRF

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom issued a press release yesterday reading in part::

Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced the appointment of Nury Turkel, a lawyer and Uyghur rights advocate, to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF)....

Turkel was born in a re-education camp [in China] at the height of the Cultural Revolution and spent the first several months of his life in captivity with his mother. He came to the United States in 1995 as a student and was granted asylum in 1997. He is the first U.S.-educated Uyghur lawyer.

Congress Passes Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act

On Tuesday, Congress gave final passage to S.178, the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019 (full text). In part, the bill finds that:

The Government of the People’s Republic of China has a long history of repressing approximately 13,000,000 Turkic, moderate Sunni Muslims, particularly Uyghurs, in the nominally autonomous Xinjiang region. These actions are in contravention of international human rights standards, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The bill goes on to express the sense of Congress that, among other steps:

the President should condemn abuses against Turkic Muslims by Chinese authorities in Xinjiang and call on Chinese President Xi Jinping to recognize the profound abuse and likely lasting damage of China’s current policies, and immediately close the “political reeducation” camps, lift all restrictions on and ensure respect for internationally guaranteed human rights across the region, and allow for reestablishment of contact between those inside and outside China;....

the Secretary of State should fully implement the provisions of the Frank Wolf International Religious Freedom Act ... and consider strategically employing sanctions and other tools under the International Religious Freedom Act....

The bill will now go to the President for his signature.

US Sanctions Chinese Entities For Human Rights Abuses of Uighurs

In a press release yesterday, he U.S. Department of Commerce announced that it is imposing sanctions on 28 Chinese governmental and commercial organizations because they have been implicated in China's human rights abuses of Uighurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. Thompson Reuters reports on these developments.

Pompeo Speaks At Vatican Symposium On Faith-Based Organizations

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke yesterday (full text and video of remarks) in the Vatican at a symposium titled Pathways to Achieving Human Dignity: Partnering with Faith-Based Organizations. The event was co-sponsored by the Holy See’s Secretariat of State and the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See. (Background on event). In his remarks, Secretary Pompeo particularly highlighted the persecution of Uighurs in China, but called out a number of other nations as well, saying in part:

We must recognize the roots of religious repression.  Authoritarian regimes and autocrats will never accept a power higher than their own.  And that causes all sorts of assaults on human dignity.

We must exercise our moral voice to confront them.

China Bans Islamic Names For Uighur Children

The New York Times reported yesterday that China has taken further steps to "curb religious fervor" among Uighurs in the western region of Xinjiang.  It has banned parents from giving their children names that can be seen as encouraging Islamic extremism.  According to Radio Free Asia last week:

Islam, Quran, Mecca, Jihad, Imam, Saddam, Hajj, and Medina are among dozens of baby names banned under ruling Chinese Communist Party's "Naming Rules For Ethnic Minorities," an official confirmed on Thursday.

An employee who answered the phone at a police station in the regional capital Urumqi confirmed that "overly religious" names are banned, and that any babies registered with such names would be barred from the "hukou" household registration system that gives access to health care and education.