Uyghurs
The People’s Republic of China is committing mass atrocity crimes, including genocide, and grave human rights violations against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims.
Surveillance is so pervasive that the region has been described as effectively an open-air prison. Arbitrary detentions number in the millions, making it the largest incarceration of a minority group since the Holocaust. Physical and sexual torture are widespread, both inside and outside the concentration camps. Medical crimes include measures to restrict births within the group, such as forced sterilization of Uyghur women and girls. Uyghur forced labour is pervasive and there is evidence that it taints the supply chains of several dozens of multinational corporations. China’s transnational repression and intimidation of Uyghurs outside of China are commonplace and include efforts to detain and deport Uyghurs back to China. These are just a handful of examples.
The Uyghur Tribunal, chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, as well as other independent, credible bodies, have found that the crimes committed against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims constitute genocide, pursuant to the definition contained in the 1948 UN Genocide Convention. The United States Congress and government have agreed, and so too have numerous parliaments, including those of Canada, The Netherlands, France, Czech Republic, Lithuania, and the United Kingdom.
Over 150 countries, including Canada, have ratified the Genocide Convention. By doing so, these countries have agreed to take action to prevent and to punish genocide.
Human Rights Action Group is working with Uyghur groups, including Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project, to combat and seek justice for the various atrocities, including genocide, committed by the Chinese Communist Party against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims. Together, we are pursuing a variety of domestic, foreign and International legal mechanisms, on a variety of specific issues, including Uyghur forced labour, refugee resettlement, transnational repression, and genocide.
David Matas and Sarah Teich act as counsels for the coalition of 28 organizations that called on the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE), a corporate watchdog, to investigate 14 Canadian companies for their alleged ties with Uyghur forced labour in their supply chain. The companies named in the complaint include Nike Canada, Dynasty Gold, Walmart Canada, Levi Strauss & Co. Canada and Zara Canada. Notably, the ongoing investigations are the first in CORE’s history. Additionally, HRAG and URAP have filed numerous targeted sanctions requests and engage regularly with government officials on the feasibility and impact of levying sanctions on individuals and entities with responsibility for gross human rights violations committed against Uyghurs.