AFP.
Even in the age when state terrorism and genocide are widely discussed, there was a revelation last day that went unnoticed. It was fresh evidence of Communist China's inhumane treatment of Uyghurs that came out from official documents. Though a hacking police computers, more than ten gigabytes of evidence, including footage of torture, torture plans, official orders and threatening speeches at Xinjiang prisons during 2017-18, were leaked and taken to the public. This information is undeniable and authentic as it was leaked from inside. Allegations of mass detention, racial assault and genocide against Uyghur Muslims in China had surfaced multiple times. But, all those times, Chinese authorities denied them outright. It was explained that the government was providing re-education, job training and counter-terrorism awareness to the Uyghurs. In the concentration camps started under President Xi Jinping in 2017, one million Uyghurs got imprisoned within a year. The people were pressured through widespread human rights abuses to promote among them allegiance to the Communist Party and the majority Han culture. The experiences of those who escaped and left the country, a few media reports and satellite images had surfaced earlier, hinting at this Uyghur hunt.
The documents known as the "Xinjiang Papers" were followed by 'China Cables', which came to light via the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in 2019, carried information about detention camp practices and covert surveillance systems. Each time the evidence came out, Chinese officials reiterated that they were only implementing 're-education'. However, the documents named 'Xinjiang Police Files' that came out now, convincingly contradict this claim. These official classified documents were sent to Adrian Zenz, the German researcher on China, who gave them to media institutions. These are very valuable as official information from the concentration camps. Observers see these as conclusive evidence that Uyghurs are not being re-educated and trained but being oppressed and subjected to genocide – as authentic testaments to human rights abuses, torture and cultural annihilation.
Following the release of China Cables, the United States had imposed trade sanctions on China in 2021. With more and more new evidence now available, the world community can no longer remain silent. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet was on a visit to China at the time of the leak. Though without deviating from "political correctness", in a statement she expressed hope that China would be prepared to pay more attention to the human rights situation. It remains to be seen whether the world's nations can change China's policy of dealing with allegations only through political responses and force that country to corrective action. But the actions of the superpowers, who blame China, also call into question their credibility. The West, which has criticized China on the anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre, justifies the repressive regimes that have continued to carry out the series of killings in Palestine and elsewhere. The United States, which has condemned China's dominance over Taiwan, has established and is maintaining military bases around the world. America's sincerity comes under question when that country, which had made brutal torture its policy in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib prisons, gets outraged at China's savagery without saying anything about it. It has become an inherent weakness of the global justice system that the wrongdoings of those accused become aid to the accused. But still, the world's conscience can no longer remain silent in the face of evidence of gross human rights abuses and genocide. The United Nations and non-aligned nations need to be able to intervene in this matter.