The Uyghur Tribunal response to the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) Press Conference on Xinjiang-related issues held on the 9th June 2021.
We note the commentary about the Uyghur Tribunal and previous comments as to the desirability of these matters being dealt with by the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The Tribunal has always made it clear that it would not have been formed if there was a possibility of the allegations being considered at a formal international court.
Witnesses and experts provided grim testimony about torture, rape, and other human rights violations in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) at the opening day of a tribunal in London investigating whether China’s treatment of its ethnic Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims constitutes genocide.
Kicking off a series of hearings known as the “Uyghur Tribunal” to run on June 4-7 and again in September, Uyghur exiles described forced abortions, arbitrary arrests, and forced labor in Xinjiang, while international legal experts weighed in on the applicability of laws on genocide and other statutes.
The tribunal has no state backing and any judgments will be nonbinding on any government. Beijing has denounced the tribunal and smeared its participants.