Beijing [China] : Some 55 Uyghur organizations have called on world leaders to recognize December 9 as Uyghur Genocide Recognition Day, reported Radio Free Asia (RFA).
On December 9, 2021, an independent UK-based Uyghur Tribunal announced its findings that China committed genocide against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in its Xinjiang region.
Uyghur organizations from 20 countries have asked global leaders to take action to end the Chinese government’s human rights atrocities against the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs.
“On December 9, 2021, after 18 months of investigations, and reading through hundreds of thousands of pages of documents and holding hearings from witnesses, the Uyghur Tribunal declared China’s crimes in East Turkestan as genocide,” RFA quoted president of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), Dolkun Isa as saying.
“By declaring this day as Uyghur Genocide Recognition Day, we want to draw the international community’s attention to this ongoing genocide. By commemorating the day, we want to mobilize countries, peoples and international organizations to stop the genocide,” he said.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), in late August, issued a report that documented the abuses, including arbitrary arrests, forced abortions, torture and violations of religious freedom.
The report said the atrocities against Uyghurs “may constitute international crimes, particularly crimes against humanity”.
China and its allies in the U.N. Human Rights Council in October, however, rejected the United States proposal to hold a debate on the findings of the report, reported RFA.
Uyghur groups called this China’s disregard for the U.N. human rights system and called governments to take the necessary action, impose targeted sanctions, introduce forced labour laws and increase their support for Uyghur refugees.
Recently, to condemn the Chinese government’s rights abuses, various ethnic groups including members of the Tibetan and Uyghur community protested in cities on the West Coast of the United States.
Protests were also held on Human Rights Day on December 10 in Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. Braving inclement weather including heavy rainfall and high winds, scores of people protested in front of the Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco.
Protests were held on the iconic interstate highway I-5 in Seattle and in Downtown Portland. This is the first time that anti-China protests have been held in Seattle and Portland.
According to a recent investigation by The Australian Financial Review, the Chinese ruling party is spending as much as USD 620,000 to create propaganda and counter global efforts to expose human rights abuses against the Uyghur people.
The Australian-based publication revealed that the Chinese video-sharing app Douyin is one of the companies that has received government financing. (ANI)
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