Uyghur Tribunal: Second Hearings (Day 4)

It is alleged that the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) has perpetrated and continues to perpetrate the most serious of international crimes against the Uyghurs and other Muslim Population in the Uyghur region (“Xinjiang”) of North West China. In June 2020 Dolkun Isa, President of the World Uyghur Congress formally requested that Sir Geoffrey Nice QC establish and chair an independent people’s tribunal to investigate ‘ongoing atrocities and possible Genocide’ against the Uyghur people. The Uyghur Tribunal was launched on 3 September 2020 with assistance from a non governmental organisation, the Coalition for Genocide Response.

The research section and associated investigators of the Uyghur Tribunal have been collecting, collating, and assessing evidence from many sources over the past months. The Tribunal will consider both inculpatory and exculpatory material on an independent and impartial basis.

The first Hearings were held in early June of this year. These may have contributed to the answering of questions but also raised others. The second Hearings are an opportunity for further contributions from those who may have relevant evidence to assist the panel in reaching a judgment.

Please book a ticket if you would like to come in-person to watch the live presentation of this evidence at Church House from 10th to 13th September.

If you are unable to come in-person, the hearings will be live streamed to Twitter and Youtube (you do not need to book to watch online).

For more information about the Tribunal and the Hearings please click here

Preliminary schedule:
0900 – 1300
Charles Parton OBE (British Diplomat and Senior Associate Fellow at RUSI): internal party structure of the CCP, the leadership structure and decision-making process of the CCP and, in particular, decision-making concerning policies related to the Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other Turkic minorities.

Fact Witness: This witness was detained in a concentration camp from 2014. They were inflicted various forms of ill-treatment, including malnourishment and lack of hygiene, and witnessed torture in the camp. They were also detained in a “training” camp, where they had to endure further bodily and mental harm.

Fact Witness: This witness worked on hi-tech surveillance technology to monitor and control Uyghur people with numerous technology companies, and participated in the development of the Integrated Joint Platform Operation System (IJOP).

1400 – 1800
Dr Rian Thum (Senior Lecturer in East Asian history at the University of Manchester): the policy to dilute the population of the XUAR and the final purpose of PRC policies in the region, with a focus on Han settlements and the relationship to the security of the region.

Professor James Millward (Professor of Inter-societal History at the Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University): history of Xinjiang and Uyghur-Han relations, the PRC’s ethnicity policy, and its practices towards the Uyghur population in the XUAR as well as the implications of the current policies. To be confirmed.

Dr Adrian Zenz (anthropologist and Senior Fellow in China studies at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation): long-term planning by the CCP and/or Chinese state actors vis-à-vis Uyghur peoples/ethnic groups in Western China as well as Central Asia more broadly. He will also discuss state sponsored incentives targeting Han peoples to move and/or work in the Xinjiang region at the expense of the Uyghurs specifically.