China committed genocide in Xinjiang by preventing births in the Uighur population, a London panel probing alleged human rights abuses said on Thursday.
Nine lawyers and human rights experts published their opinion after hearing allegations of torture, rape and inhumane treatment at two evidence sessions this year.
The tribunal was set up at the request of the World Uyghur Congress, the largest group representing exiled Uighurs, which lobbies the international community to act against China over the alleged abuses.
Beijing dismissed its findings, and said the congress “paid for liars, bought rumors and gave false testimony in an attempt to concoct a political tool to smear China.”
“This so-called tribunal has neither any legal qualifications or any credibility,” the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, calling the hearings “a political farce.”
In a 63-page report, the panel said there was no evidence of mass killing, which has been the traditional test of genocide under international law.
However, it said it was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) “intended to destroy a significant part” of the Uighur minority in the country’s northwest and as such “has committed genocide.”
The CCP put in place “a comprehensive system of measures to ‘optimize’ the population in Xinjiang” to reduce the Uighur birthrate, including forced sterilization, birth control and abortion.
“The population of Uighurs in future generations will be smaller than it would have been without these policies. This will result in a partial destruction of the Uighurs,” it added.
“In accordance with the Genocide Convention’s use of the word ‘destroy,’ this satisfies a prohibited act required for the proof of genocide.”
China has slapped sanctions on panel chairman Geoffrey Nice, who prosecuted former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic for war crimes at the UN tribunal in The Hague.
He and the other members acknowledged that testimony came from people opposed to the People’s Republic of China and the CCP, but the panel also examined thousands of pages of documentary evidence from independent researchers and human rights organizations.
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