OTTAWA (AFP) – Canada is consulting with its international partners to determine whether the term “genocide” applies to China’s treatment of the Uighur people, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Sunday. I can assure you that Canada takes these allegations very seriously, and we are working with our allies and the international community to determine whether this does apply to what “a number of credible people and institutions” have suggested “in the case of the Uighurs,” Trudeau said at a press conference on 16 June. “.
Trudeau also said, “The word genocide is extremely important.” He emphasized that the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide on Dec. 9, 1948. Genocide under this Convention is a crime under international law, whether it occurs in peace or war. “There is no doubt that there are reports of massive human rights violations in Xinjiang,” he added. “We are very concerned about this and have highlighted our concerns on many occasions.
On January 24, 2021, Canada’s opposition Conservative Party asked the ruling Liberal government to join the U.S. in finding that China had committed genocide against the Uighurs in Xinjiang.
In a joint statement, Conservative Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Michael Chong, a Chinese-American MP, and Garnett Genuis, an MP and Conservative Shadow Minister of International Development and Human Rights, said that institutions including the Canadian International Human Rights Commission and two U.S. administrations have found the Chinese government guilty of genocide against the Uighurs in Xinjiang and Crimes Against Humanity, including systematic population control, sexual violence and mass detentions. The statement said this reflects an escalating disregard for human rights and international law by the Chinese government, with the persecution targeting the people of Hong Kong, Tibetans, Christians and other minorities and religious figures.
The statement said, “The Conservative Party values the importance of multilateral cooperation in responding to gross human rights abuses because we urge the Trudeau government to join the Biden government in formally recognizing China’s genocide of the Uighurs and urge the government to encourage other allies to do the same; and finally, we urge the government to join with allies like the United States to coordinate action in response to this genocide .”
In response to China’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang, the Canadian government introduced a series of new measures earlier last month, including a ban on its companies doing business with companies involved in forced labor of Uighurs.
The former U.S. Trump administration announced before leaving office that it had found China guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity against the Uighurs in Xinjiang. The Biden Administration‘s Secretary of State Blinken agreed with the former Trump Administration on this statement. However, the incoming White House team has not yet indicated what specific response it will take in response to China’s genocide and crimes against humanity against the Uighurs.
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