{"id":38323,"date":"2021-01-14T06:00:15","date_gmt":"2021-01-14T06:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jww.org\/?p=38323"},"modified":"2021-03-27T20:14:29","modified_gmt":"2021-03-27T20:14:29","slug":"call-for-un-commission-uyghurs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jww.org\/site\/call-for-un-commission-uyghurs\/","title":{"rendered":"50 Genocide prevention organizations and experts call for UN Commission of Inquiry on crimes against humanity and genocide against Uyghurs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) has reissued an open letter to governments, along with 29 genocide and atrocity prevention organizations from seven countries, and 21 senior experts, reiterating our grave concern that crimes against humanity and genocide are taking place against Uyghurs in East Turkistan.<\/p>\n

\u201cUyghurs have now suffered unspeakable brutality for four years,\u201d said Omer Kanat, UHRP Executive Director. \u201cSystematic atrocity crimes began in 2017. How long will it take for UN member states to recognize these crimes and take action?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ellen Kennedy, Director of World Without Genocide, said \u201cWe urge an end to these human rights violations; the restoration and protection of Uyghurs\u2019 safety and security; and legal investigations of those responsible for perpetrating these crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The original letter<\/span><\/a>, supported by 22 genocide and atrocity prevention organizations and 16 senior experts from five countries, states that \u201cThe international community has the responsibility to respond to these crimes and protect Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples through diplomatic, humanitarian and other peaceful means.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letter also calls on governments to appoint a UN Commission of Inquiry to investigate the abuses, to implement commitments on atrocity and genocide prevention through bilateral and multilateral diplomacy, and independently investigate and make appropriate legal determinations regarding the situation.<\/p>\n

Since the original publication of the open letter in September 2020, there have been growing calls to formally investigate the situation and to make appropriate determinations.<\/p>\n

The Canadian Subcommittee on International Human Rights, in a news release<\/span><\/a> on October 21, 2020, said that \u201cBased on the evidence put forward during the Subcommittee hearings, both in 2018 and 2020, the Subcommittee is persuaded that the actions of the Chinese Communist Party constitute genocide as laid out in the\u00a0Genocide Convention.\u201d The subcommittee will soon submit a final report for consideration by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Parliament of Canada.<\/p>\n

The U.S. State Department is also reportedly reviewing the situation through its Office of Global Criminal Justice, which could trigger an official determination in the coming weeks or months. This followed the introduction of a bipartisan resolution<\/span><\/a> on October 26 by Senators Robert Menendez and John Cornyn to designate the abuses as genocide.<\/p>\n

Organizational signatories:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Aegis Trust<\/b><\/p>\n

Asia-Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect<\/b><\/p>\n

Atrocity Forecasting Project<\/b><\/p>\n

Coalition for Genocide Response<\/b><\/p>\n

Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Keene State College<\/b><\/p>\n

European Centre for the Responsibility to Protect<\/b><\/p>\n

Genocide Alert<\/b><\/p>\n

Genocide Watch<\/b><\/p>\n

Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect<\/b><\/p>\n

Holocaust Memorial Day Trust<\/b><\/p>\n

Human Security Centre<\/b><\/p>\n

Institute for the Study of Genocide<\/b><\/p>\n

Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention (I-GMAP), Binghamton University<\/b><\/p>\n

International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law<\/b><\/p>\n

Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights<\/b><\/p>\n

Jewish World Watch<\/b><\/p>\n

The Jo Cox Foundation<\/b><\/p>\n

Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Center<\/b><\/p>\n

Master of Arts in Holocaust and Genocide Studies (MAHG), Stockton University<\/b><\/p>\n

Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies<\/b><\/p>\n

Operation Broken Silence<\/b><\/p>\n

Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights<\/b><\/p>\n

Remembering Srebrenica<\/b><\/p>\n

Ren\u00e9 Cassin, the Jewish voice for human rights<\/b><\/p>\n

Sentinel Project for Genocide Prevention<\/b><\/p>\n

Society for Threatened Peoples<\/b><\/p>\n

Protection Approaches<\/b><\/p>\n

Uyghur Human Rights Project<\/b><\/p>\n

Waging Peace<\/b><\/p>\n

World Without Genocide<\/b><\/p>\n

Individual Signatories:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Mehnaz M. Afridi<\/b>, Director, Holocaust, Genocide, and Interfaith Education Center, Manhattan College<\/p>\n

Jacqueline Bhabha<\/b>, Professor of the Practice of Health and Human Rights, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health<\/p>\n

Daniel Feierstein<\/b>, Director, Center for Studies on Genocide, National University of Tres de Febrero<\/p>\n

Jocelyn Getgen<\/b>, Director, Benjamin B. Ferencz Human Rights and Atrocity Prevention Clinic<\/p>\n

Kevin Jon Heller<\/b>, Professor of International Law and Security, University of Copenhagen (Centre for Military Studies) and Professor of Law, Australian National University.<\/p>\n

Elisa von Joeden-Forgey<\/b>, Associate Professor, Department of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Keene State College<\/p>\n

Zachary D. Kaufman<\/b>, Associate Professor of Law and Political Science, University of Houston Law Center<\/p>\n

Ben Kiernan<\/b>, A. Whitney Griswold Professor of History, and Founding Director (1994-2015), Genocide Studies Program, Yale University<\/p>\n

Tod Lindberg<\/b>, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute, and member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum\u2019s Committee on Conscience<\/p>\n

Peter McBride<\/b>, Director, The Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Keene State College<\/p>\n

Christoph Meyer<\/b>, Professor of European & International Politics, King\u2019s College London<\/p>\n

Dirk Moses<\/b>, Frank Porter Graham Distinguished Professor of Global Human Rights History, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill<\/p>\n

Maxim A. Pensky<\/b>, Co-Director, Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention, Binghamton University<\/p>\n

Nadia M. Rubaii<\/b>, Co-Director, Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention, Binghamton University<\/p>\n

David Simon<\/b>, Director, Yale Genocide Studies Program<\/p>\n

Karen E. Smith<\/b>, Professor of International Relations, London School of Economics and Political Science<\/p>\n

Gregory Stanton<\/b>, President, Genocide Watch<\/p>\n

John Sturtz<\/b>, Associate Professor, Education & Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Keene State College<\/p>\n

Ernesto Verdeja<\/b>, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame<\/p>\n

James E. Waller<\/b>, Cohen Professor of Holocaust & Genocide Studies, Keene State College<\/p>\n

Andrew Woolford<\/b>, Former President, International Association of Genocide Scholars<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) has reissued an open letter to governments, along with 29 genocide and atrocity prevention organizations from seven countries, and 21 senior experts, reiterating our grave concern that crimes against humanity and genocide are taking place against Uyghurs in East Turkistan. \u201cUyghurs have now suffered unspeakable brutality for four years,\u201d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":38557,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[147,127,188,150],"tags":[148,149,151,152,153,154],"class_list":["post-38323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-china","category-new","category-news-features","category-press-release","tag-ellen-kennedy","tag-human-rights","tag-uhrp","tag-uyghur-human-rights-project","tag-uyghurs","tag-world-without-genocide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jww.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jww.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jww.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jww.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jww.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38323"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jww.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38558,"href":"https:\/\/jww.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38323\/revisions\/38558"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jww.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jww.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jww.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jww.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}