Uyghur Tribunal
The Uyghur Tribunal was established in September 2020 as an independent people’s tribunal to investigate ‘ongoing atrocities and possible genocide’ against the Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other Turkic Muslim populations in the PRC.
Witnesses presented live evidence during two hearings in June and September 2021. The Tribunal’s goal was to review the evidence and reach a judgment on whether international crimes were proven to have been committed by the PRC, though as an independent tribunal, the Uyghur Tribunal had no powers of official sanction or enforcement.
The Tribunal’s judgment, published on 9 December 2021, was guided in its work by the Genocide Convention, the Convention on Torture (both signed and ratified by China), and, for alleged crimes against humanity, the ’Rome Statute’ of the International Criminal Court.
Key Reading:
On 9th of December 2021, Sir Geoffrey Nice QC delivered the Uyghur Tribunal’s judgment.
Evidence Submitted to the Tribunal
This page covers all of the evidence submitted to the Tribunal, in the form of statements, transcripts and reports.
The Xinjiang Papers: An Introduction
The “Xinjiang Papers” are a cache of government documents from the PRC, most of them classified, that were originally leaked to the New York Times by a “member of the Chinese political establishment” and published in November 2019, though only a small number of transcribed pages were publicly released. In September 2021, a set of digital files was leaked to the Uyghur Tribunal based in London during the second set of hearings; careful comparison showed them to be identical to the Xinjiang Papers. The files contain highly sensitive and pertinent material in relation to Beijing’s policies in Xinjiang. This report, submitted to the Tribunal, contains a detailed overview of the documents.
The Xinjiang Papers: An Analysis of Key Findings and Implications for the Uyghur Tribunal in London
This report, submitted to the Tribunal, contains a detailed analysis of the Xinjiang Papers and what this evidence indicates about the central government’s role in Xinjiang policies, as well as the author’s resulting conclusions on the question of genocide.
View recordings of the first Tribunal hearings which took place between 4-7 June 2021.
View recordings of the second Tribunal hearings which took place between 10-13 September 2021.
View a recording of the third Tribunal hearing which took place virtually on 27th November 2021.
Relevant Legal Materials:
Further Reading
Uyghur activists and U.S. lawmakers on Monday marked two years since an independent tribunal in London handed down a decision that China’s government was committing genocide against Uyghurs.
This webinar will reflect on how the Uyghur Tribunal’s findings have been applied in practice over the past year, and how advocates, experts, and scholars can continue to pursue justice.
The Uyghur Tribunal has released its full Judgment - some 347 pages - setting out its comprehensive findings of genocide in Xinjiang against Uyghur Muslims, now complete with appendices.
Based on the evidence collected by both the Uyghur Tribunal and the OHCHR, the global community can no longer ignore the atrocities in the Uyghur Region. On the sidelines of the 51st UN Human Rights Council session, this event discusses avenues of accountability for Uyghurs.
Because China is so powerful, the global community’s failure to hold it to account for the atrocities committed against the Uyghurs could have serious repercussions. Thus far, China has waved away criticisms with renewed assertions of absolute state sovereignty within its own borders. But that idea was rejected with the creation of the United Nations, when member states, including China, agreed to relinquish some of that sovereignty in favor of international human rights.
A transcript of the 22nd January 2022 debate in the House of Commons regarding the Uyghur Tribunal judgment and what the government is doing in response to the Tribunal’s findings.
Speaking of the crimes committed against my family and other Uyghurs in Xinjiang has sparked a surprising reaction.
The Tate and the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London, the Pompidou Centre in Paris and the Uffizi Gallery in Florence all have major partnerships with the Chinese state. Each reacted with apparent indifference or refused to comment on the ruling of an independent London panel which has found “beyond all reasonable doubt” that China is guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity.
This report, submitted to the Uyghur Tribunal, contains a detailed analysis of the Xinjiang Papers and what this evidence indicates about the central government’s role in Xinjiang policies, as well as the author’s resulting conclusions on the question of genocide.
China has committed genocide against the Uyghur people in Xinjiang, an unofficial UK-based tribunal has found. The Uyghur Tribunal cited birth control and sterilisation measures allegedly carried out by the state against the Uyghurs as the primary reason for reaching its conclusion.
The Uyghur Tribunal, having reviewed evidenced since September 2020, reaches a judgment on whether international crimes are proved to have been committed by the PRC.
A newly published cache of documents directly links top Chinese leaders including President Xi Jinping to the state's crackdown on Uyghur Muslims. China has consistently denied that it is committing genocide against Uyghurs. Some of the documents were the subject of an earlier report, but the latest leak has previously unseen information.
This report, submitted to the Uyghur Tribunal, contains a detailed overview of the Xinjiang Papers, a cache of leaked - and mostly classified - government documents from the PRC.
The House of Lords debated reported remarks by the British Foreign Secretary that a genocide is underway against the Uyghur population in Xinjiang, China, on Thursday 25 November.
The Uyghur Tribunal was launched in September 2020 as an independent people’s tribunal to investigate ‘ongoing atrocities and possible Genocide’ against the Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other Turkic Muslim Populations. The Uyghur Tribunal, which has no powers of sanction or enforcement, will confine itself to reviewing evidence in order to reach an impartial and considered judgment on whether international crimes are proved to have been committed by the PRC. There will be two sets of Hearings, at which witnesses will present live evidence. These will be open to the public and streamed live. The first hearings took place between 4 and 7 June 2021. Click here to view recorded livestreams of the second set of hearings from 10 to 13 September 2021.
The Uyghur Tribunal was launched in September 2020 as an independent people’s tribunal to investigate ‘ongoing atrocities and possible Genocide’ against the Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other Turkic Muslim Populations. The Uyghur Tribunal, which has no powers of sanction or enforcement, will confine itself to reviewing evidence in order to reach an impartial and considered judgment on whether international crimes are proved to have been committed by the PRC. There will be two sets of Hearings, at which witnesses will present live evidence. These will be open to the public and streamed live. Recorded livestreams of the first set of hearings from 4 to 7 June 2021 are available here.