Leading scholars and lawyers are joining politicians and human rights groups in Britain Wednesday for the first large-scale conference to discuss the Chinese government’s alleged genocide against the Uyghur ethnic group in the northwest Xinjiang region.
The three-day conference at Newcastle University brings together dozens of speakers, including senior British judges and lawmakers, and is the first to gather so many experts on Xinjiang and genocide. It is the latest move aiming to hold China accountable for alleged rights abuses against the Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim and Turkic minorities.
Speakers will cover evidence of alleged atrocities targeting the Uyghurs, including forced labour, forced birth control and religious suppression, and discuss ways to compel international action to stop the alleged abuse.
“We want it to not just be a scholarly affair – we are gathering all these people to combine their expertise and influence to up the ante, to increase pressure on China, to think of ways to bring an end to the harm on the Uyghur people,” said organizer Jo Smith Finley, an academic specializing in Uyghur studies.
“This is a major humanitarian disaster which is increasingly urgent,” she added. “Is this genocide or cultural genocide, or crimes against humanity, and how can we prosecute that? We are really trying to refocus on what can we do to make this stop.”