A new report released by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on Tuesday details evidence of China possibly “committing genocide” against the Uyghur minority.
The organisation’s Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide said in a statement that the report, titled “‘To Make Us Slowly Disappear’: The Chinese Government’s Assault on the Uyghurs,” highlights “additional recently surfaced information” which “signals that the Chinese government’s conduct has escalated beyond a policy of forced assimilation.”
“The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is gravely concerned that the Chinese government may be committing genocide against the Uyghurs,” the report said. It also urged “immediate response of the international community to protect the victims” due to the “seriousness” of the “assault on the Uyghur population.”
In addition to the international community’s years-long condemnation of alleged abuse by the Chinese government against Uyghurs, the latest report details new allegations of “forced sterilisation, sexual violence, enslavement, torture, and forcible transfer.”
“This includes, in particular, a deepening assault on Uighur female reproductive capacity through forced sterilisation and forced intrauterine device (IUD) placement as well as the separation of the sexes through mass detention and forcible transfer,” the report said.
The latest findings assert that there is now “a reasonable basis” to believe that Beijing’s crimes against humanity alleged in previous reports are increasing, though Chinese officials have rejected these claims.
The new report also noted that “there is insufficient evidence at this time of the intent of the Chinese government to systematically kill living Uyghurs” due to “the limited reports of Uyghur deaths in detention.” However, it emphasised that evidence of forced sterilisations and forced contraception raise “legitimate questions about the existence of the intent to biologically destroy the group, in whole or in substantial part.”
The report further builds upon an announcement made by the museum in March last year which stated that there was a “reasonable basis” to believe that Beijing “had perpetrated the crimes against humanity of persecution and of imprisonment” against the Uyghurs.
Tom Bernstein, chair of the museum’s committee on conscience, called on the Chinese government to halt its crimes against the minority community and allow independent international monitoring groups to investigate. “The Chinese government has done its best to keep information about crimes against the Uyghurs from seeing the light of day. The information that has come out so far, including documentation from courageous Uyghur activists, has been damning,” he said in a statement.
China is yet to respond to the latest allegations.
US Holocaust Museum Report Accuses China of Uyghur Genocide
The latest report details new allegations of “forced sterilisation, sexual violence, enslavement, torture, and forcible transfer.”
November 10, 2021
SOURCE: MUSLIM ASSOCIATION OF BRITIAN