Report warns China may be committing genocide against Uyghurs

WASHINGTON

China has intensified the crackdown against its ethnic Uyghur Muslim minority to levels that may well qualify as genocide, according to a report on Tuesday.

The Washington, DC-based Holocaust Museum's Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide pointed to what it said is "damning" evidence that China is no longer seeking the mere erasure of Uyghur religion and culture in northwest China's Xinjiang region.

Beijing is instead implementing policies intended to curtail the population with forced sterilization to mandated intrauterine device (IUD) placement, and separation of sexes via mass detention, according to the museum. The museum previously determined China has committed crimes against humanity targeting the Uyghurs.

Somewhere between 1 and 3 million Uyghurs have been "arbitrarily detained" and incarcerated in Beijing's prisons, which have been described as "concentration camps," said the center. Additionally, it estimated about the same number of people have been subjected to forced sterilization, torture, sexual violence and forced labor.

Exact figures are difficult to determine in part because of China's opacity on matters related to its crackdown and the report noted that Beijing "continues to intentionally impede the flow of information concerning its assault on the Uyghurs of Xinjiang."

"Given the scale of the atrocity crimes as well as the challenges inherent in confronting crimes committed by a powerful state, the international community needs to coordinate their efforts and prioritize protecting the Uyghur community from these crimes," said the report.

"The impunity with which the Chinese government has been able to commit these crimes thus far cannot persist. The future of a people may depend on swift, coordinated action by global actors," it added.

Naomi Kikoler, the director of the Museum’s Simon-Skjodt Center, said China's anti-Uyghur campaign "is alarming in scale and severity."

"The damage inflicted upon Uyghur individuals, families, and their community has left deep physical and emotional scars. The trauma from these atrocities will harm generations of Uyghurs," she said in a statement.

According to UN data, at least 1 million Uyghurs are held against their will in places Beijing calls "vocational training centers," but which have been criticized as a mass incarceration network.

China does not provide information on how many camps are in Xinjiang, number held or how many have returned to social life.

While the UN and other international organizations have demanded the camps be opened for inspection, China has allowed only a few designated centers to be partially viewed by a small number of foreign diplomats and journalists.

Several countries have accused China of ethnically cleansing Uyghurs in Xinjiang. Beijing has denied any wrongdoing, dismissing the allegations as "lies and (a) political virus."