Newly-uncovered evidence reveals schemes to uproot minorities in China's Xinjiang

Amid the growing international criticism of human rights abuses in China, newly-uncovered evidence revealed state-run schemes to forcibly uproot, assimilate and reduce the population density of ethnic and religious minorities in the Xinjiang region through coercive recruitment into labour transfer schemes.

According to Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), a report authored by IPAC adviser Adrian Zenz and reported by the BBC and others has shed new light on the coercive labour transfer schemes taking place in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

The report estimates that these schemes have led to the forcible relocation of hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs and other minorities in recent years which, if proven, could meet international criteria for the Crimes Against Humty of Forcible Transfer and Persecution, IPAC statement said.

"The coercive labour transfer scheme is distinct from the well-documented use of detainees in Xinjiang's re-education camps for forced labour. This adds to a mounting body of evidence revealing egregious human rights abuses against the Uyghurs and other minorities, including arbitrary detention, mass sterilization and the systematic torture and sexual abuse of those imprisoned in the Xinjiang region's vast prison camp network," the statement added.

Furthermore, IPAC reiterated its call for an UN-led or international legal investigation into crimes against humty and genocide.

"While such a possibility remains remote, we commit to working in a coordinated way to ensure that individual states undertake their own investigations, and take all necessary measures to ensure that supply chains are not tainted by forced labour from the Uyghur Region and elsewhere in China," the statement added.

( With inputs from ANI )