World Uyghur Congress, 20 July 2023

The World Uyghur Congress (“WUC”) submitted a report for the 45th cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of China, addressing pressing concerns regarding China’s utilization of counter-terrorism legislation and its failure to uphold international obligations since the last UPR in 2018. The human rights situation in East Turkistan has significantly worsened during this period, leading to wide international recognition of a genocide that Uyghurs and Turkic people continue to face. 

China has established a legislative framework enabling mass arbitrary detention and forced labour, along with coercive mass birth control, discriminatory mass surveillance, and privacy infringements, explicitly targeting the Uyghur and other Turkic and Muslim peoples of East Turkistan. These actions not only contravene international law but also violate China’s domestic laws. This submission thoroughly outlines the unlawful nature and scale of these violations. It offers recommendations to urge the Chinese government to end its genocidal policies targeting Uyghurs and other Turkic people.

Within this submission, we conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the Government of China’s adherence to international obligations and domestic laws and regulations concerning the application of counter-terrorism laws, women’s rights, arbitrary detention, and children’s rights. Additionally, we assess the implementation of recommendations received during the last UPR cycle on these critical matters.

Read the full report here.