Key information about Uyigur captivity
The Uyghur and other Muslim minority persecution in Xinjiang has been the subject of international condemnation and attention. A number of independent reports have established widespread evidence of human rights violations, including forced labor, mass detention, and genocide. Below are key sources that detail these abuses in great depth.
1. Xinjiang Police Files
The Xinjiang Police Files are a collection of leaked Chinese documents from Xinjiang that reveal mass detention policies on Uighur Muslims. The files include photographs, speeches, and police computer records. They reveal widespread surveillance, violent detention conditions, and suspected human rights abuses. The leak provides unusual insight into China's treatment of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang.
2. UN-Report
Starting from late 2017, the OHCHR had been receiving growing reports of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities disappearing or being arbitrarily detained in Xinjiang. While China claimed these to be "vocational training centres," a number of investigations recorded severe human rights abuses, torture, forced labor, and sexual violence. OHCHR sought access to Xinjiang since 2018 and based its report on government records, satellite imagery, open-source information, and 40 in-depth interviews with victims. The assessment, based on international human rights law, was shared with China for feedback and was followed by a visit of the High Commissioner to Xinjiang in 2022.
3. Uyghur Tribunal
The Uyghur Tribunal was an independent people's tribunal based in London, which was headed by Sir Geoffrey Nice, who was the trial lead prosecutor for Slobodan Milošević. Created to investigate evidence of Uyghur and other Muslim minority rights abuses in Xinjiang, the Tribunal collected broad evidence, comprising expert reports, satellite imagery, leaked documents, and more than 70 witness statements. After lengthy deliberation, the Tribunal found in its final judgment that the Chinese government is guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity, and other serious human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples.
Jorit Vásconez Gerlach
