Uyghur persecution meets all five UN criteria for genocide, think-tank claims

China’s treatment of its Uyghur minority meets each of the five criteria for genocide set out by the United Nations and is a breach of international law, a think-tank has found following an independent review.

A report by the Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy said authorities in Beijing had violated all five articles of UN Genocide Convention, including “intent to destroy [a group] in whole or in part”.

There has been widespread condemnation in the West over mounting evidence of atrocities being committed against Uyghur Muslims, including reports of torture, sexual abuse, forced sterilisation and family separation, among others.

As many as two million Uyghurs are thought to be held in a network of internment camps across Xinjiang province in the China’s northwest.

It is not known how many people have died.

Some MPs in Britain have called for the government to review its trade ties with China.

The five acts of genocide specified in the UN convention, which was adopted in 1948 following the Holocaust and the Second World War, include killing members of a group; causing serious bodily or mental harm; and acting to prevent births.

Forcibly transferring children to another group and inflicting conditions on a group calculated to bring its physical destruction are the two other clauses outlined in the UN definition.

The Newlines Institute said China bore State responsibility for breaches in all five.

Its report is based on research and interviews involving dozens of experts in the field and thousands of witness testimonies.