Sonya Imin
The first Uyghur Tribunal session ended on June 7th after four days of hearings from key witnesses and outside experts. Camp survivors shared their testimonies alongside the analysis of genocide specialists, labor rights experts, and academics on the Uyghur region. As a Uyghur person in diaspora, this has been an emotional week for me and my community. It is a complex set of feelings to have the stories of Uyghur concentration camp survivors quite literally being put on trial for the world to judge. Though I feel relief that the CCP’s actions are finally being brought before a court system, I can’t help but grieve over the countless lives who have suffered and perished during the last four years of global inaction.
The Uyghur Tribunal is an independent people’s tribunal whose members hold roles as academics, legal experts, and civil society leaders. People’s tribunals have historically been conducted in response to the alleged crimes of various global powers, and the purpose is to investigate human rights abuses and crimes not yet addressed by state institutions or other international governing bodies. Since China’s influence in global politics has been a barrier to the effective utilization of other international court systems such as the International Court of Justice or the International Criminal Court, this people’s tribunal system is our first real opportunity to elicit an impartial legal judgment of the CCP’s crimes. Even though the outcomes of the Uyghur Tribunal hold no binding power of enforcement, all evidence and discussion is held in permanent record to inform governing bodies, civil society, and businesses on how to appropriately engage with China. According to the tribunal, this could include economic and individual sanctions, as well as barring sales of surveillance technologies, medical equipment, and declaration of ineligibility for visas. This independent tribunal investigation could be the vital next step needed to push global powers to rethink their relationship to China and begin to leverage pressure for tangible change.
The second set of hearings will begin in September with a final judgment expected near the end of the year. This process is entirely crowdfunded and more funds are needed to continue the hearings this fall. If proven successful, it could also provide mechanisms for other groups, including Tibetans, to bring forth human rights violations and criminal acts before a legal body. There has already been widespread backlash from the CCP as they threaten witnesses and their families, as well as attempting to delegitimize the tribunal. Frankly, the pushback against the tribunal gives me hope that these outcomes hold the potential of a trajectory shift in China’s domestic policies against its occupied peoples. A determination of genocide could be the leverage that activists and political leaders need to bring tangible accountability to China, and could be the beginning of the unravelling of the CCP’s power in all of its occupied countries and territories.
My desire is that this unraveling will extend to the struggles of the peoples of Tibet, Hong Kong, Southern Mongolia, Taiwan, and all who suffer under China’s heavy hand of oppression. Already there is cross-coalition movement building to hold the CCP accountable, and this is one part of that story. Throughout my conversations with the Tibetan community, the potential power of our collective solidarity has become so apparent to me. Uyghurs and Tibetans struggle against the same forces, and it is a strategy of the oppressor to isolate the oppressed. My hope is that our solidarity and collaboration can work towards our parallel goals of self-determination and freedom of our peoples, because together we are always stronger.
# Students for a free Tibet
June 12 2021