Safeguard Defenders testimony at Uyghur Tribunal
On September 13th, Safeguard Defenders presented evidence to the second hearings of the Uyghur Tribunal after submitting written evidence regarding Beijing’s ample use of the forced televised confessions playbook to counter the increasing amount of evidence on its crimes against humanity and genocide in Xinjiang.
Download Safeguard Defenders full written submission (PDF) here:
Safeguard Defenders’ submission focused in particular on the long series of press conferences held by the CPC Publicity Department of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region since January 2020 and the ones hosted by the Beijing Foreign Ministry since December 2021 with the express aim of reaching global audiences.
Based on the in-depth examination of the direct evidence presented by these public press conferences and our evidence-based experience with the PRC’s use of forced (televised) confessions since 2013, it is our firm conviction that many of the “testimonies” brought forward either in presence or in video recordings by the Chinese authorities in an effort to refute reports, witness statements, or policy decisions overseas have been carefully scripted to deny allegations, defend government policies, dissuade other possible witnesses from coming forward and denounce those that have come forward by publicly humiliating and vilifying those who the Chinese Communist Party regards as “enemies” and create an atmosphere of fear by “teaching” others a “lesson” as a tactic to strike down on dissent and activism.
Our submission focused on the total of 62 press conferences held between January 2020 and August 2021: 39 were held in Urumqi, 14 hosted by the Foreign Ministry in Beijing (implicating the highest levels of Government), and nine additional “theme-oriented” conferences.
Out of 62, 49 featured direct “witness testimony” by people identified as graduate trainees, employees, migrant workers, religious figures, entrepreneurs, relatives or acquaintances of witnesses abroad. While Safeguard Defenders has not been able to gain access to any of these testimonies (and as denounced by Sir Geoffrey during the hearing, no one has been able to independently access any of the testimonies that spoke against the proceedings of the Uyghur Tribunal during the 4 press conferences expressly dedicated to its proceedings), the eerily similar nature of their testimony and behavior strongly point to their being scripted with even exact correspondence of wording across “testimonies” and dates.
They are held in direct sequence to “outside events” such as policy decisions or statements (e.g. Parliamentary determinations on genocide or sanctions), independent expert reports (e.g. Adrian Zenz, ASPI, …) or independent news reporting by international media. The main line across all scripted testimonies closely mimicks the one described by Xu Guixiang, Deputy Director General of the CPC Publicity Department of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, on February 10, 2021:
“Today, we dedicated this press conference to the work of the vocational education and training centers in Xinjiang, and invited 15 graduates of the centers to share their own experiences with us. They are the real people with real stories. You can never fake happiness. They were deceived, manipulated, controlled by the extremists, living under their shadow; some of them drifted apart from their families, ignoring laws, engaging in terrorist activities, and even becoming frontline warriors of terrorist, extremist forces. Extremist ideologies have converted normal people into “devils” of ruthless killers. They all have got rid of radicalism and extremists ideologies, returned to the normal life. Their thinking and mentality have changed totally. They know and abide by laws, excel at skills, have stable jobs and salary. They live a decent life with dignity and value. They are out of the woods of “devils” to become normal people.”
Furthermore, as stated, a second express effort is made to publicly vilify and humiliate witnesses overseas, both to discredit their testimonies and to instill fear in the community, preventing others from coming forward. Out of 62 conferences, nineteen out engage in the express by-name slandering of witnesses abroad, accusing them of «Terrorist activities», «Fraud», «Illegal border crossing», «Family abandonment», and so on. At least 4 use direct (video) «testimonies» by friends and relatives of overseas witnesses, in an effort to both denounce and warn.
The character assassination attempts by officials are particularly disturbing with regard to female victims, a remarkable display of Chinese officials sexism and absolute disregard for human dignity which by no standard can hold a credible place in any public discourse: frequent comments on their alleged adultery or infectious diseases such as syphilis are expressly used to discredit them.
Based on the evidence and experience available, Safeguard Defenders submitted its conclusion that:
- The PRC’s attempts to deny and/or re-frame discourse on mounting human rights abuse allegations include far-reaching and relentless campaigns to silence, intimidate, harass and slander witness testimonies, either directly or through threats to family and loved ones in China;
- Often responding to the growing series of reports or testimonies abroad - such as the proceedings of the Uyghur Tribunal - the toolbox employed includes the use of a variation on traditional televised confessions during governmental press conferences as well as traditional forced televised confessions, a practice amounting to severe human rights violations in and of itself, and provoking additional long-term trauma for victims ;
- Forced televised confessions constitute a gross violation of basic human rights: “Confessors” will not have been given access to a lawyer; they may not even have been charged or been tried in a court of law. “Confessors” must speak the lines that are scripted to them by the authorities. Filmed confessions of detainees and prisoners deny the “confessor” human dignity, the right to remain silent and the right to due process and a fair trial. “Confessors” are routinely mentally and physically tortured and their family threatened unless they speak to the camera. We believe similar tactics have been used on at least part of the press conference “testimonies”;
- Aimed both at denying overseas allegations and celebrating “government policy”, they are also meant to publicly humiliate and vilify individuals who the Chinese Communist Party regards as “enemies,” and to create an atmosphere of fear by “teaching” others a “lesson” as a tactic to strike down on dissent and activism;
- The number and nature of organs involved in these efforts further highlight the centralized Government and CPC role in their orchestration
