Uighur exiles push for case accusing China of genocide

Uighur exiles urged the International Criminal Court on Monday to investigate Beijing for genocide and crimes against humanity, the first attempt to use international law to hold China’s ruling Communist Party accountable for its draconian crackdown on the Muslim minority.

A team of London-based lawyers representing two Uighur activist groups has filed a complaint against Beijing for pursuing the repatriation of thousands of Uighurs through unlawful arrests in or deportation from Cambodia and Tajikistan. The case could bring greater international scrutiny of the Chinese state’s power to impose its will beyond its borders.

The lawyers’ 80-page filing includes a list of more than 30 Chinese officials they said were responsible for the campaign, including Xi Jinping, the Communist Party leader.

Xi’s policies over recent years have put Muslim minorities in China’s western region of Xinjiang under a pervasive net of surveillance, detention and social re-engineering. As many as 1 million ethnic Uighurs and members of other Muslim minorities have been held in internment camps in the region, drawing growing global condemnation.

The court’s mandate is to seek justice for victims of genocide, war crimes and other atrocities. But China does not recognize its jurisdiction.

Rodney Dixon, a British lawyer leading the case, said it circumvented the issue of jurisdiction over Beijing by focusing on claims of unlawful acts by China in Cambodia and Tajikistan, two countries that are members of the court.

“This can become a critical case because for so long it has been assumed that nothing could be done to hold China accountable at an international court,” Dixon said.

Citing a 2018 ruling by the court, Dixon said, “The court has said it has jurisdiction when crimes start or end in a member state, and that is the case here.”

The 2018 ruling was applied to Myanmar, which has also not signed on to the court’s treaty. The court ruled that it could prosecute Myanmar for “deportation” and associated crimes against Rohingya Muslims who fled to Bangladesh, which is a member.

China’s foreign ministry had no comment. But the government has repeatedly rejected the evidence of widespread repression of minorities in Xinjiang.

“This can become a critical case because for so long it has been assumed that nothing could be done to hold China accountable at an international court.”

Rodney Dixon, lawyer leading the case