Nowhere is the powerlessness of ‘the international community’ at this moment greater than in Xinjiang, the Chinese region where the Uyghur minority is forced by all possible means to adopt Han Chinese culture. It has been known for years that China is detaining Uyghurs in camps on a large scale and that the stories of victims are in stark contrast to the official line that they are ‘training centers’.
The stories of arbitrary detention, disappearance, torture, rape and forced sterilization are persistent and deeply concerning. Certainly a country that wants to be a global power should be held accountable for it in a credible way.
But China doesn’t care. Journalists visiting the region are monitored and Uyghurs are eager to share their views. For information from Xinjiang, the outside world is dependent on Uyghurs and refugees data leaks as published last week Xinjiang Police Filesa hacked local police file containing the passport photos of thousands of imprisoned men, women, as well as minors.
The abstract, rough estimate that more than a million Uyghurs are or have been incarcerated is now accompanied by concrete faces, some with tears in their eyes. Their ‘crime’ is often mentioned. For example, a man was sentenced to ten years in prison because he did not drink alcohol and therefore had to be a radicalized Muslim. His mother was imprisoned for the simple fact that she is his mother.
This kind of publication is of great importance. Perhaps they arouse some shame in Beijing, or at least the awareness that the outside world is not indifferent. As with (almost forgotten) Tibet and Hong Kong, the world must continue to point out that human rights are being violated on a large scale here.
This is all the more relevant now that it is clear that the system of international organizations established after World War II to protect those rights is no match for China’s insistence that the situation in Xinjiang is a strictly domestic affair. In the UN Security Council, China has a veto, at the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court it wants not cooperating† These institutions are based on the principle that a country wants to be accountable. If a powerful country like China refuses to do so, they have no tools to force it.
This inability became painfully clear during UN Human Rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet’s recent visit to China. After four years of pleading with the Chinese authorities, she was allowed to take a – heavily staged – look at Xinjiang, but afterwards she refrained from critical comment. As the highest protector of human rights, that is her task. But the question also arises as to how effective it would have been; it can be assumed that Beijing would then close the door and would no longer be approachable at all. Bachelet chose to maintain the painstakingly forged relationship, presumably without expecting much from it himself.
As she tries to achieve something through diplomacy, it is important to keep looking for alternative ways to hold China to account, no matter how limited the options seem. One way is to keep re-imagining the people who are involved, as the Xinjiang Police Files are doing now. Taking victims and witnesses seriously, the outside world is not powerless in this.
Also read: ‘Uyghur tribunal’: China commits genocide
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of June 2, 2022