“Break Their Lineage, Break Their Roots:” China’s Crimes against Humanity Targeting Uyghurs and Other Turkic Muslims

Details

Author(s):
  • Beth Van Schaack
  • Maya Wang
  • Et al.
Publish Date:
April 19, 2021
Publication Title:
Human Rights Watch & Mills Legal Clinic of Stanford Law School
Format:
Report
Citation(s):
  • Beth Van Schaack & Maya Wang, et al., “Break Their Lineage, Break Their Roots:” China’s Crimes against Humanity Targeting Uyghurs and Other Turkic Muslims, Human Rights Watch & Mills Legal Clinic of Stanford Law School, April 19, 2021.
Related Organization(s):

Abstract

From the report’s back-cover blurb:
China’s government is committing crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in the northwest region of Xinjiang. Since the beginning of the “Strike Hard Against Violent Extremism” campaign in 2014, Chinese authorities have subjected Turkic Muslims to increasing repression without any accountability.

“Break Their Lineage, Break Their Roots”: Chinese Government Crimes against Humanity Targeting Uyghurs and Other Turkic Muslims details a range of abuses that amount to a widespread and systematic attack directed against a population. They include mass arbitrary detention, torture, enforced disappearances, mass surveillance, cultural and religious erasure, separation of families, forced returns to China, forced labor, and sexual violence and violations of reproductive rights.

Crimes against humanity are considered among the gravest human rights abuses under international law. The Chinese government’s oppression of Turkic Muslims is not a new phenomenon, but in recent years has reached unprecedented levels. Pervasive restrictions on the practice of Islam, the “Becoming Families” program, and the forced separation of children from their families are of particular concern.

Human Rights Watch, with support from Stanford Law School’s Human Rights & Conflict Resolution Clinic, urges the United Nations General Assembly, Human Rights Council, secretary-general, and high commissioner for human rights to establish an international commission of inquiry to investigate alleged crimes against humanity and provide a road map for holding responsible officials accountable. They also call on concerned governments to impose targeted sanctions against responsible Chinese officials, vigorously regulate companies to ensure they are not complicit in repression, and provide protection for Turkic Muslim diaspora communities.

From the reports acknowledgments page:
This report was prepared with the assistance of the Stanford Human Rights & Conflict Resolution Clinic, under the directorship of Dr. Beth Van Schaack, Leah Kaplan Visiting Professor in Human Rights at the Law School and a faculty affiliate with Stanford’s Center for Human Rights & International Justice. Maya Wang, senior China researcher in the Asia Division at Human Rights Watch, researched and wrote parts of the report. The report was edited by Sophie Richardson, China director. Brad Adams, Asia director, and James Ross, legal and policy director, provided legal review. Joseph Saunders, deputy program director, provided program review.