An independent UK-based panel, probing human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang province, has concluded its second and final session.
From September 10-13, the Uyghur Tribunal, a panel of Britain-based lawyers and rights experts examined human rights violations in China’s Xinjiang region. According to an official statement by Campaign For Uyghurs (CFU), the Committee heard further evidence on the atrocities and genocide being perpetrated by the Chinese regime in East Turkistan.
“This people’s tribunal is an attempt to hold accountable a regime that evades accountability by leveraging economic and political power to obfuscate its genocidal policies,” CFU said in a statement.
In response to a lack of transparency, the refusal to admit investigators, and the stonewalling of international pressure, this tribunal has brought the question of genocide to the people, who cannot be bought, the statement added. In total, this tribunal heard from over 70 witnesses, and over 30 researchers spent a combined 10,000 hours reviewing an insurmountable amount of evidence, including 500 fact witness statements.
Campaign For Uyghurs (CFU) has lauded those testifying as brave and proud champions of the Uyghur cause; this truly is a proud moment for human rights around the world. “Those who offered first-hand accounts described a horrifying reality. The stories and evidence presented in this tribunal are too great to ignore: the Uyghurs are facing a genocide. The Genocide Report published by CFU in July of 2020 came to this determination utilizing the standards of the Geneva convention, and we look forward to the world coming to this determination now.”
Abdulhakim Idris, of the Center for Uyghur Studies, provided expert testimony on the use of economic power to prevent action on the genocide, and the colonial history of East Turkistan.
He said, “The Uyghur people know, from their experience, how to warn other countries of the coming danger from China. To conquer central Asia, they have to destroy the Uyghur people[…]in almost 136 years of colonization by China, Uyghurs have lived many tragic days. China knows what they did to the Uyghur people, and so they are afraid of them, as a people.”
Executive Director of CFU, Rushan Abbas said, “Having watched this tribunal in full, I have been horrified by what I have heard, especially knowing that my innocent sister may also be subject to the same tortures being described. To watch these brave witnesses testify on behalf of the voiceless people back home made me so proud of them.” Earlier in June this year, the “tribunal” heard nearly 38 witnesses during the first round of hearings in London.
