China’s Xinjiang is one such example. The region has lately been in the news for its mistreatments of Muslims in its region.
Human Rights activists have been complaining about China’s treatment of Muslims for a long time now. There are concentration camps filled with Muslim population where their basic rights are denied to them. Close to a million Muslims are detained in hundreds of concentration camp.
US national security adviser, Robert O’Brien said that the treatment muslims in China’s Xinjiang region is close to genocide.
“If not a genocide, something close to it going on in Xinjiang,” Robert O’Brien told an online event hosted by the Aspen Institute, while highlighting other Chinese crackdowns including one on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement.
This statement comes after the seizures by U.S. customs of “massive numbers” of hair products made with human hair from Xinjiang.
“The Chinese are literally shaving the heads of Uighur women and making hair products and sending them to the United States,” he said.
In June, U.S. Customs and Border Protection had detained a shipment originating from Xinjiang of hair products and accessories suspected of being forced-labor products made with human hair.
The United States are yet to identify Beijing’s actions as Genocide, they strongly condemn of its actions. The US has denounced China’s treatment of Uighur and other minority Muslims in Xinjiang.
The US has also imposed sanctions on officials in fault of such abuses.
The Reality of Xinjiang
The United Nations has estimated around a million Muslims in such camps are being tortured and denied of human rights. There are also reports of forced sterilization, forced abortion and coercive family planning against Muslims in Xinjiang.
China has denied all such allegations and insists that those camps are for vocational training.
If Beijing gets designated with genocide, it could have far lager and significant legal implications on China. The will also be stronger actions taken.
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The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo calls this disturbing and shocking, but would still be mindful of what term they use in describing it.
“When the United States speaks about crimes against humanity or genocide … we’ve got to be very careful and very precise because it carries an enormous weight.”