SEEKING INTERNATIONAL RELIEF FOR UYGHURS IN CHINA.

• Date: 01 January 2021
• Published date: 01 January 2021
• Author: Fisher, Thomas
• Author: Fisher, Thomas

1. TELLING THE UYGHUR STORY THROUGH INTERNATIONAL LAW

   Uyghur Muslims in China have been the target of Chinese persecution, most recently ramping up in 2017. (1) The Uyghurs are a Turkish minority ethnic group originating in central and east Asia; approximately 11 million Uyghurs live in Western China's Xinjiang region, the majority of which are Muslims. (2) Reports on the internment of Uyghurs in Chinese reeducation camps have slowly come to light. (3) However, there has yet to be much international attention to the issue; as a result, the Chinese government and sparse foreign reports are the only sources of information on a humanitarian crisis affecting over a million people. (4)

   The stage for international legal relief remains bleak given China's controlling position on the United Nations Security Council." Instead, other unconventional forms of international relief should be explored. Creating a truth commission or filing a human rights class action are two options for shedding more light on the Uyghur persecution in China. Neither option offers a perfect solution to Uyghur persecution, but both have the potential to raise awareness and provide some form of restorative justice to a group that has been largely silenced on the international stage.

2. THE CASE OF CHINESE UYGHUR MUSLIMS

   Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping laid the foundation for the crackdown on the Uyghur population in a series of speeches delivered in private to officials in April 2014, just weeks after Uyghur militants stabbed more than 150 people at a train station, killing 31. (6) President Xi, in a series of leaked documents released in November 2019, called for an all-out "struggle against terrorism, infdtration and separatism" using the "organs of dictatorship" and showing "absolutely no mercy." (7) The Chinese government had presented its efforts in the Xinjiang region to the public as a benevolent campaign to deradicalize the region. However, thanks to a series of document leaks, we now know the internment was discussed and organized as a ruthless campaign in which senior party leaders were recorded ordering urgent action against extremist violence, including mass detentions. Party leaders went on to discuss the consequences of such a crackdown without apparent concern for the vast human rights violations. (8)

   Chinese authorities claim the Uyghurs are responsible for an ongoing separatist movement in the Xinjiang region of China. China further ramped up its crackdown against Uyghur Muslims after five people were stabbed to death in a separatist attack attributed to the Uyghur ethnic group in February 2017. The crackdown on Uyghurs in China has taken the form of increased surveillance and detainment in reeducation camps. (10) In August 2018, the international community took notice as the United Nations heard testimony that up to a million Uyghur Muslims and other Muslim groups may be being detained in the western Xinjiang region of China, where they were undergoing "re-education" programs. (11)

   It has been estimated that over a million people, 10% of China's Uyghur Muslim population, has been forced into the camps as of 2019. (12) The Chinese government has claimed the camps prevent terrorism while also teaching detainees "vocational educational skills" to transform them into productive Chinese citizens. (13) However, human rights organizations report the camps are actually more properly classified as internment camps, in which detainees are subject to widespread torture and other human rights abuses. (14) Those released from the camps have also reported horrific cases of sexual abuse committed by camp guards, medical experiments on the inmates, and otherwise atrocious health conditions. (15) However, details remain sparse as to the exact conditions of the camps at this time.

   Chinese officials have stated that the Uyghurs who placed in such camps are collected and detained according to three general categories. (16) First are individuals who have committed a minor offense, such as wearing a burqa or watching a prohibited religious video. (17) Second are those who have been convicted of a more serious offense; in these cases the individual is offered internment in the reeducation camps as an alternative to a standard prison sentence. (18) Third are those who served their jail time, but were deemed to need "reeducation," effectively extending their sentence. (19) However, reports indicate that Uyghurs placed in the camps may not be limited to those who were found guilty of an offense. (20) Instead, the camps are also used to threaten the families of those critical of the Chinese government, expanding China's suppression of the Uyghur's story internationally. (21)

   Chinese control over information regarding the reeducation camps has been incredibly effective. (22) Besides largely refusing to allow foreign journalists into Xinjiang and exerting control over domestic Chinese reporting, the Chinese government has also managed to silence even those survivors of the camps who have left the country. (23) It is rare for anyone to be discharged from these camps, as to secure release, inmates must pass a series of exams with unknown criteria. (24) Furthermore, even after leaving the camps, these individuals are reluctant to come forward out of fear that their families will be persecuted. (25) The final attribute of China's success in controlling the Uyghur's story is its economic influence over other nations. (26) China's economic weight in the international market has been credited with the slow publicity of this story and will likely continue to cause countries to drag their feet in condemning China's actions. (27) Recently, the United States House of Representatives put forward a bill condemning China's treatment of Uyghur Muslims. (28) However, this has been criticized by the Chinese government. (29) Hua Chunying, a spokesperson for China's Foreign ministry, responded to the House bill by stating: "The U.S. attempts to sow discord among various ethnic groups in China... and contain China's growth... But its attempt will never succeed." (30) This continued China's messaging: deny any wrongdoing concerning the Uyghur internment.

3. AVENUE FOR LEGAL RELIEF

   1. International Criminal Court

      For Chinese Uyghurs, legal relief has multiple potential sources. First, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court ("the Rome Statute") offers a potential venue for legal relief. (31) Article 7 of the Rome Statute defines crimes against humanity as:

      [A]ny of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack:

      1. Murder;

      2. Extermination;

      3. Enslavement;

      4. Deportation or forcible transfer of population;

      5. Imprisonment or other sever[e] deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law;

      6. Torture;

      7. Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity;

      8. Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender... or other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under international law...;

      9. Enforced disappearance of persons;

      10. The crime of apartheid;

      11. Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health. (32)

      According to the aforementioned reports, the conditions in China faced by Uyghur Muslims violate acts 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 11 of the Rome Statute. (31) However, mounting such a claim in the International Criminal Court ("ICC") faces several hurdles. To prosecute a criminal claim in the ICC, one of two types of jurisdiction must apply. (34) Either the state facing an alleged violation must be a party to the Rome Statute, or the case must be referred to the ICC Prosecutor by the United Nations Security Council ("UNSC"). (35)

      China is not a party to the Rome Statute; therefore, a jurisdictional claim must rely on a referral from the UNSC. (36) However, China is a permanent member of the UNSC with full veto power. (37) Any of the UNSC's permanent members may exercise the veto power to protect their national interests and block any action voted on by the rest of the Security Council. (38) The use of the veto has primarily been utilized by Russia and China since 2011, with the conflict in Syria accounting for the majority of the vetoes. (39) Even the threat of a veto affects the work of the Council, as bills are typically tabled the moment a permanent member of the Council threatens to employ their veto power. This, combined with China's history of suppression on this issue, renders it unlikely any case will be successfully brought before the ICC. (40) Despite this, two Uyghur activists are in the process of initiating proceedings in the court, "accusing Chinese officials of genocide and other crimes against humanity against Uyghur Muslim minority groups." (41) The potential success of this lawsuit remains to be seen.

   2. International Restorative Justice

      With the avenue to the ICC effectively closed to Chinese Uyghurs, some have suggested alternate forms of indirect relief, such as individual nations coming together to make statements shaming China or the establishment of an international truth and reconciliation commission. (42) Truth and reconciliation commissions focus on restorative justice, inviting the injured community to work with an international commission to collect 'facts-on-the-ground' about ongoing repression, negotiate with the oppressing state to end the crimes against humanity, and devise solutions to repair trauma. (43)

      Truth and reconciliation commissions performed well in a number of countries that had to come to terms with ugly pasts riddled with conflict, civil strife, violence, and massive human rights abuse. (44) The most famous...