An independent panel set up in Britain to examine China's crackdown against Uygurs and other ethnic minority groups ruled on Thursday that the Chinese government's actions in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region constituted genocide. In a judgement released after months of hearings, the Uygur Tribunal pointed specifically to alleged actions by the Chinese government to lower the Uygur population in Xinjiang through forced sterilizations and abortions. Article II(d) of the United Nations Genocide Convention offers one example of genocide as the imposition of "measures intended to prevent births within a group". China denies all allegations of human rights abuses, and has framed its actions in Xinjiang as steps to counter extremism and fight poverty. Tribunal chair Geoffrey Nice delivers the verdict of the independent tribunal assessing evidence on China's alleged rights abuses against the Uyghur people, in London, Dec. 9.

Source: The Times December 10, 2021 05:42 UTC