Because of forced sterilizations, unjustified imprisonments, and restrictions on basic humanitarian rights, the U.S. State Department has officially declared genocide in Xinjiang, China against Muslims and Uighurs.
On his last day in office, Secretary Mike Pompeo of the Trump Administration announced the declaration of China’s genocide, and the Biden Administration has followed suit.
Chinese officials have held at least one million in internment camps located in Xinjiang, the northwest corner of China.
Those sent to the internment camps are profiled and “selected” based on their religion, recent travel to other countries, and downloaded apps on their phones that allow for encrypted messaging and birthright violations.
Chinese authorities have deemed the internment camps, “Vocational Training Program,” with the goal to deter terrorism.
How is mistreating and harming people based on their race and religion detering terrorism? Isn’t it domestic terrorism within itself, targeting people with the same citizenship?
China is purposefully intending to destroy a racial, religious and ethnic group by killing them, causing mental and physical harm by inflicting conditions calculated to cause destruction–all actions that define a genocide according to the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. A declaration which China was one of 149 countries to ratify.
Overall, in the past few months, the U.S. has not been the only country to declare the Chinese genocide. The Canadian Parliament has also declared that China is committing a genocide against Muslim minorities.
The Canadian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister have called upon international experts to further investigate the allegations.
Besides the recent declarations by the United States and Canada, the global response to these horrific events has been rather muted.
In China, large-scale resentment has been directed at Muslims since the 2009 riots at the Chinese capital that killed over 200 police officers and civilians.
When a new Communist Party boss entered China in 2016, Chen Quanguo started campaigning for repression of Muslim and other targeted groups; forcing them into “re-education camps” or concentration camps.
It is appalling the lack of coverage and conversation these acts in Xinjiang are receiving.
The statements made by Mike Pompeo on his last day in office could lead to penalties in China but is ultimately up to Biden’s Secretary of State, Anthony J. Blinken.
Blinken has indicated that the Department of State will be attempting to lobby support from other nations to confront China about its oppression in Xinjiang but no actions have yet been taken to do so.
No one should be in as vulnerable a state as Muslim minorities are in China right now. Taking away freedoms and rights simply because of religion or race is something that has never ended well in history’s past.
All countries need to be held accountable for their actions by other countries in order to maintain the freedoms and peace that were fought for in previous wars.
Conversations need to happen, there needs to be transparency and thorough reports of the camps in Xinjiang and the public needs to be informed about what is happening before more innocent lives are taken.