Show an ad over header. AMP  

Report: "Clear evidence" China is committing genocide against Uyghurs

09 March 2021
 Dan Ackermann

Chinese authorities have breached "each and every act prohibited" under the UN Genocide Convention over the treatment Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in China's Xinjiang province, an independent report published Tuesday states.

Why it matters: D.C. think-tank the Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy, which released the report, said in a statement the conclusions by dozens of experts in war crimes, human rights and international law are "clear and convincing": The ruling Chinese Communist Party bears responsibility.

  • It's the first time a non-governmental group has conducted independent legal analysis of the genocide allegations in Xinjiang, "including what responsibility Beijing may bear for the alleged crimes," notes CNN, which first obtained a copy of the report.

The big picture: Up to 2 million Uyghurs are estimated to be detained in the province's mass internment camps. Chinese authorities deny any rights abuses have been committed and claim the camps are used to root out extremism.

  • But there's evidence to support allegations of torture, forced sterilization and other abuses, with which this new report concurs.
  • Investigations show Chinese authorities have had a "vast string of factories" inside the camps constructed, and they're and forcing detainees to work in cotton fields, per Axios' Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian.

What they found: "China's policies and practices targeting Uyghurs in the region must be viewed in their totality, which amounts to an intent to destroy the Uyghurs as a group, in whole or in part," the report states.

  • It finds that Uyghur detainees within the detention sites are "systematically tortured, subjected to sexual violence, including rape, and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment or punishment, deprived of their basic human needs, and severely humiliated."
  • They're deprived of basic human needs, "severely humiliated and subjected to inhumane treatment or punishment, including solitary confinement without food for prolonged periods," according to the report.
"Suicides have become so pervasive that detainees must wear 'suicide safe' uniforms and are denied access to materials susceptible to causing self-harm."

Of note: Governments including the U.S. have denounced the treatment of the people inside the camps as "genocide" and "crimes against humanity."

  • The International Criminal Court (ICC) last December declined to investigate allegations of genocide against Uyghurs, but it left the file open. That means more evidence can be submitted on the claims and the ICC could still open an investigation.

Read the full report, via DocumentCloud:

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

Section2

Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.