Three years ago, an independent tribunal in London determined that China had committed crimes amounting to genocide against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in its far-western Xinjiang region. Though the tribunal’s Dec. 9, 2021, ruling was non-binding, it served as a clarion call to hold the Chinese government accountable for rights violations in Xinjiang, which Beijing has repeatedly denied.
Since then, global recognition of the Uyghurs' suffering has grown, though little progress has been made in actually bringing China to justice.“Uyghur Genocide Recognition Day is a reminder of what is at stake — Uyghurs continue to face cultural erasure,” Omer Kanat, executive director of the Uyghur Human Rights Project, or UHRP, said in a statement. “Words of recognition must be backed by co
ncrete, enforceable policies to end complicity in these atrocities.”
The Chinese government’s repression includes mass arbitrary detentions, forced labor, family separations, religious persecution and the erasure of Uyghur identity and culture, the group said.
