Policy & Advocacy · East Turkistan Government in Exile
International Responses to the Crisis in East Turkistan
A record of parliamentary resolutions, ICC complaints, sanctions, legislation, and statements by governments, and multilateral bodies in response to the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other Turkic peoples of East Turkistan. Last updated March 5, 2026.
Terminology note: The ETGE uses “East Turkistan” for what the PRC calls “Xinjiang”, an imposed colonial name meaning “New Territory.” Where “Xinjiang” appears below, it refers to proper names of specific documents or direct quotes from other parties. Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other Turkic peoples are the native peoples of East Turkistan, not “minorities”, a framing the ETGE rejects.
1
Government formally designating the crimes as genocide (US)
9+
Parliaments designating the crimes as genocide
51
Nations condemning crimes against humanity at UN
5
ETGE ICC evidence submissions
☪️ ETGE Legal Action at the ICC
The East Turkistan Government in Exile (ETGE) and East Turkistan National Awakening Movement (ETNAM), led by then Prime Minister Salih Hudayar, filed the world’s first ICC complaint against the PRC on 6 July 2020, accusing senior PRC officials including President Xi Jinping of genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples of East Turkistan.
Since the PRC is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, ETGE’s legal team, led by lead counsel Rodney Dixon KC, invoked ICC jurisdiction through crimes committed on the territory of ICC member states, specifically the mass deportation and forced repatriation of Uyghurs from Tajikistan and Cambodia back to occupied East Turkistan, where they face detention, torture, forced labour, and other atrocities.
“We want real justice where Chinese government officials are held accountable and punished just like the Nazis at the Nuremberg trials.”, Salih Hudayar, ETGE Prime Minister
6 Jul 2020
ICC Filing
ETGE and ETNAM filed an 80-page Article 15 Communication to the ICC Office of the Prosecutor in The Hague, naming over 30 senior PRC officials, including President Xi Jinping, and presenting evidence of genocide and crimes against humanity including mass detention, forced sterilization, torture, and forced labour. Lead counsel: Rodney Dixon KC. Read the ETGE press release.
30 Oct – 9 Nov 2020
ICC Support, IPAC
63 parliamentarians from the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), representing 14 countries, wrote to ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda urging her to open an investigation based on the ETGE complaint. Signatories included MPs from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK, including Sir Iain Duncan Smith (UK) and Baroness Helena Kennedy KC (IPAC co-chair). Kennedy stated: “Mounting evidence points to the most horrific abuses against Uyghurs and other minorities. The ICC must fully examine the allegations.”
10 Jun 2021
ICC Filing
ETGE submitted a second dossier of evidence to the ICC, including first-hand testimony of Uyghurs forcibly deported from Tajikistan, an ICC member state, into occupied East Turkistan by PRC agents.
11 Nov 2021
ICC Filing
ETGE submitted a third dossier of evidence to the ICC Prosecutor incorporating additional witness testimony on PRC rounding up of Uyghurs across Central Asia.
15 Sep 2022
ICC Support, EU Parliament
38 Members of the European Parliament co-signed a letter to ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan KC urging him to open an investigation into PRC genocide and crimes against humanity, citing the ETGE complaint. The MEPs noted that at least 90% of Uyghurs living in Tajikistan had been coerced or deported back to China by PRC officials.
20 Jun 2022
ICC Filing
ETGE submitted a fourth dossier to the ICC, incorporating the leaked Xinjiang Police Files and new survivor testimony documenting PRC coordination of cross-border abductions, detention, and torture. Rodney Dixon KC: “The evidence shows that the PRC is implementing a policy of rounding up Uyghurs from outside China, including ICC member states, and forcefully deporting them back.”
Dec 2023
ICC Filing
ETGE submitted a fifth dossier of evidence to the ICC, further pressing the Office of the Prosecutor to open a formal investigation, with counsel Rodney Dixon KC arguing the case belongs squarely within ICC jurisdiction given crimes commenced on the territory of ICC member states including Tajikistan.
8 Jan 2025
ETGE Vice President Sayragul Sauytbay and Foreign Minister Salih Hudayar testified at the UK House of Lords in a session titled “The Forgotten Genocide,” chaired by Baroness Helena Kennedy KC, calling on the UK government to formally support the ETGE’s ICC complaint. Read the IBA summary.
🇺🇳 United Nations
22 Jan 2026
UN Experts
Five UN Special Rapporteurs issued a joint statement expressing grave alarm over the PRC’s forced labour of Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and Tibetan communities. The statement warned that some cases may amount to the crimes against humanity of forcible transfer and/or enslavement. Special Rapporteurs included Tomoya Obokata (slavery) and Alexandra Xanthaki (cultural rights).
18 Oct 2023
51-Nation Joint Statement
51 UN member states delivered a landmark joint statement at the UN General Assembly Third Committee condemning the PRC’s crimes against humanity against Uyghurs. Delivered by UK Deputy Permanent Representative James Kariuki, the statement urged China to “end its violations of human rights in Xinjiang.” Signatories included the US, UK, France, Germany, Japan, Australia, Israel, Ukraine, and 43 others spanning six continents.
20 Sep 2023
UN experts issued a joint allegation letter on the widespread PRC-enforced separation of Uyghur children from their parents through centralized boarding schools, expressing deep concern about forced assimilation policies.
31 Aug 2022
OHCHR Report
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights under Michelle Bachelet published its landmark assessment concluding that the PRC’s arbitrary detention of Uyghurs “may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.” The report corroborated evidence of torture, mass detention, forced labour, forced sterilization, enforced disappearances, and family separations, based in part on the PRC’s own government documents.
Aug 2022
Enslavement Warning
UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery Tomoya Obokata concluded that it is “reasonable to conclude” forced labour is occurring in occupied East Turkistan, and warned that some instances of PRC coercion, given pervasive surveillance, imprisonment, abuse, and threats, may amount to enslavement as a crime against humanity.
31 Oct 2022
50 countries at the UN General Assembly delivered a joint statement citing the OHCHR report’s findings of possible crimes against humanity and calling for urgent follow-up action against the PRC.
Nov 2022
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) referred the situation in East Turkistan to the UN Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect (OSAPG).
Mar 2024
UN High Commissioner Volker Türk called on the PRC to implement all recommendations of the 2022 report on East Turkistan and take “strong remedial action.” The PRC has refused to engage.
21 Jan – 27 Feb 2025
UN experts and the UN Human Rights Chief urged Thailand to immediately halt the deportation of 48 Uyghurs to China, warning of serious risk of PRC detention, torture, and irreparable harm.
22 Jun 2021
44 countries at the 47th UN Human Rights Council session declared they are “gravely concerned” about human rights in East Turkistan, read out by Canada’s UN Ambassador in Geneva.
21 Oct 2021
43 countries at the UN Third Committee called for “immediate, meaningful and unfettered access” for independent observers to the Uyghur region.
6 Oct 2020
A joint letter from 39 countries to the UN Human Rights Council expressed “grave concern” about gross human rights abuses committed by the PRC against Uyghurs.
26 Jun 2020
50 UN special rapporteurs and Human Rights Council independent experts called for “decisive measures” to protect fundamental freedoms in China.
🇪🇺 🌐 Multilateral Action, G7 & European Union
9 Jun 2022
The European Parliament adopted a resolution stating that PRC evidence of birth prevention and child separations “amount to crimes against humanity and represent a serious risk of genocide,” and called on the PRC to end all state-sponsored forced labour and forced sterilization.
13 Jun 2021
G7 Statement
G7 Summit: Japan, Germany, Italy, France, the UK, Canada, and the US announced joint commitments to end PRC state-sponsored forced labour in global supply chains, referencing Uyghur forced labour in Paragraph 29 of the Leaders’ Communiqué.
20 May 2021
The European Parliament voted 599–30 to suspend the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) following PRC sanctions on MEPs who condemned the Uyghur genocide.
22 Mar 2021
Coordinated Sanctions
The EU, Canada, UK, and US announced the first coordinated human rights sanctions on PRC perpetrators, visa bans and asset freezes on four PRC officials and the East Turkistan police department.
7 Dec 2020
Legislation
The EU approved a Magnitsky Act enabling targeted sanctions on gross human rights abusers, including PRC officials responsible for atrocity crimes in East Turkistan.
18 Dec 2019
The EU awarded the Sakharov Prize to imprisoned Uyghur economist Professor Ilham Tohti, sentenced to life in prison by the PRC in 2014.
🏛️ Genocide Recognition, National Governments & Parliaments
One government, the United States, has made an executive determination of genocide, through the US State Department on 19 January 2021 under Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, subsequently reaffirmed by Secretary Antony Blinken in April 2024.
Legislative bodies in the following countries have formally passed resolutions recognizing the PRC’s atrocities as genocide and/or crimes against humanity: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Ireland, and Taiwan. The European Parliament has also passed a resolution citing “serious indications of a possible genocide.” In total, more than 10 Western parliaments have made such formal determinations.
🇦🇺Australia
15 Mar 2021
The Australian Senate considered, but failed to pass, a motion to recognize the PRC’s treatment of Uyghurs as genocide. Australia later joined the diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics alongside the US, UK, and Canada.
Legislation Parliament considered the Customs Amendment to Ban Goods Produced by Uyghur Forced Labour Bill 2020.
🇧🇪Belgium
15 Jun 2021
Crimes against humanity
The Belgian Foreign Relations Committee recognized the PRC’s actions as crimes against humanity and warned of a “serious risk” of genocide.
🇨🇦Canada
22 Feb 2021
Genocide recognition
The Canadian House of Commons voted 266–0 to recognize the PRC’s persecution of Uyghurs as genocide.
22 Mar 2021
Sanctions
Canada imposed coordinated human rights sanctions on PRC perpetrators alongside the UK, EU, and US.
1 Jul 2020
Import ban
Canada banned the import of all goods produced by forced or compulsory labour under the Canadian Customs Tariff Act.
2023
The House of Commons unanimously voted to accept 10,000 Uyghur refugees fleeing PRC persecution.
🇨🇿Czech Republic
10 Jun 2021
Genocide recognition
The Czech Senate unanimously recognized the PRC’s abuses as crimes against humanity and genocide, and called for a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing 2022 Olympics.
🇫🇷France
20 Jan 2022
Genocide recognition
The French National Assembly passed a resolution recognizing the PRC’s treatment of Uyghurs as genocide, 169–1, with testimony from Uyghur survivors describing rape, torture, and forced organ transplants in PRC detention camps.
🇩🇪Germany
19 Feb 2020
Germany’s Commissioner for Global Religious Freedom expressed “great concern” about the PRC’s persecution of Uyghurs following the leak of the “Xinjiang Papers.”
Aug 2018 Germany announced it will halt all deportations of Uyghurs to China.
🇮🇪Ireland
Genocide recognition
Ireland’s parliament formally recognized genocide and crimes against humanity committed by the PRC against Uyghurs, among the most recent additions to the growing list of parliamentary recognitions.
🇮🇹Italy
27 May 2021
The Italian Parliament passed a resolution condemning PRC atrocity crimes against Uyghurs, noting PRC retaliatory sanctions on European officials who denounced the human rights crimes.
🇯🇵Japan
1 Feb 2022
The House of Representatives passed a resolution calling for international monitoring of the PRC’s human rights situation in the Uyghur region, Tibet, Southern Mongolia, and Hong Kong.
5 Apr 2021
Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi raised concerns about PRC treatment of Uyghurs directly with PRC Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
🇱🇹Lithuania
20 May 2021
Genocide recognition
The Lithuanian parliament (Seimas) voted 86–1 to “strongly condemn China’s massive, systematic and grave human rights violations and crimes against humanity” and called for a UN legal inquiry into PRC genocide.
🇲🇾Malaysia
4 Sep 2020
Malaysia confirmed it will not extradite Uyghurs to the PRC and will allow them safe passage to a third country.
🇳🇱Netherlands
25 Feb 2021
Genocide recognition
The Dutch parliament declared the PRC’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims amounts to genocide, the first European parliament to do so.
🇳🇴Norway
18 Sep 2020
The Norway Oil Fund divested from Hikvision, a PRC surveillance company with a major role in monitoring Uyghurs across East Turkistan.
🇸🇪Sweden
Mar 2019
Sweden announced it will grant refugee status to all Uyghur Muslim asylum-seekers from China, citing serious risk of PRC persecution upon return.
🇨🇭Switzerland
28 Jan 2021
The Swiss OECD National Contact Point accepted a complaint examining Swiss bank UBS’s relationship with Hikvision, a PRC company aiding mass surveillance of Uyghurs.
🇹🇼Taiwan
27 Dec 2021
Genocide recognition
Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan passed a cross-party resolution recognizing the PRC’s human rights abuses against Uyghurs as genocide, the first such motion passed in Asia.
🇹🇷Turkey
Feb 2019
Turkey condemned the PRC’s treatment of Uyghurs as “a great cause of shame for humanity” and called for the closure of detention camps.
🇬🇧United Kingdom
23 Apr 2021
Genocide recognition
The UK House of Commons passed a motion recognizing that the PRC is committing genocide against Uyghurs.
22 Mar 2021
Sanctions
The UK imposed coordinated human rights sanctions alongside Canada, the EU, and the US on four PRC officials and the East Turkistan police department.
17 Mar 2021
The UK Parliament’s BEIS Committee issued a report on “Uyghur forced labour in Xinjiang and UK value chains” with 17 conclusions and recommendations.
12 Jan 2021
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab announced a review of UK exports to East Turkistan and introduced financial penalties for businesses failing to comply with the Modern Slavery Act.
🇺🇸United States
19 Jan 2021
Genocide determination, Executive
The US State Department under Secretary Mike Pompeo formally determined the PRC has committed crimes against humanity and ongoing genocide against Uyghurs, the only national government to make this executive determination. Reaffirmed by Secretary Antony Blinken in April 2024. January 19 is now observed globally as East Turkistan / Uyghur Genocide Recognition and Remembrance Day.
23 Dec 2021
Legislation
The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act was signed by President Biden, banning imports of all goods from the Uyghur region presumed to be made with forced PRC labour.
8 Dec 2021
Genocide recognition
US Congress passed H.Res. 317 condemning the PRC’s “ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity” against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim peoples.
20 Jun 2021
Sanctions
The White House announced sanctions on solar imports linked to Uyghur forced labour. Total US punitive sanctions against PRC entities reached 94.
13 Jan 2021
Import ban
The US banned the import of all cotton and tomato products from East Turkistan on account of PRC-organized forced labour.
17 Jun 2020
Legislation
The Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act was enacted, requiring Magnitsky sanctions on PRC officials responsible for gross human rights crimes in East Turkistan.