63 IPAC parliamentarians representing 14 countries have written to the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) urging her to accept a complaint alleging genocide against Uyghurs by China. 

The complaint, brought by Rodney Dixon QC, provides detailed and extensive evidence that the Chinese government may be committing crimes amounting to genocide and other crimes against humanity against the Uyghur and other Turkic peoples. Suspected abuses include the mass incarceration of millions of Uyghurs, widespread forced labour and the forced sterilisation of ethnic minority women.  

The People’s Republic of China is not a signatory to the ICC and so cases brought against the Chinese government are rare. The parliamentarians point to an ICC ruling that crimes commenced on the territory of an ICC state party fall within the jurisdiction of the Court. This precedent was established in a case regarding crimes against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar in 2019. The letter refers to the mass detention and deportation of Uyghurs from Tajikistan and Cambodia, both signatories to the ICC, into China.