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The Soft State is characterized by being a type of state where governance institutions are not fully developed, and consequently, it highlights social indiscipline, corruption and weak application of the law.

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Globalization: is it the "end" of The State? (Hinojosa, 2005)

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Globalization: is it the "end" of The State? (Hinojosa, 2005)

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The State should remain as the only way of political and social organization because there are no alternatives. The state organization system has a global scope above pathological cases of application.
As Hinojosa says: "there is no supranational structure capable of giving an answer to the global problems in sustitution of the States" (2005).

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Map of Syrian Civil War - Syria news and incidents today - syria.liveuamap.com

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Al-Assad forces and planes from the Russian Air Force conducted joint military air maneuvers near the Syrian Golan Heights, hours after Israel carried out its fourth raid this month against targets within the areas controlled by the Pro-Assad forces.

Explosion at HTS warehouses north of Idlib

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Map of Syrian Civil War - Syria news and incidents today - syria.liveuamap.com

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Al-Assad forces and planes from the Russian Air Force conducted joint military air maneuvers near the Syrian Golan Heights, hours after Israel carried out its fourth raid this month against targets within the areas controlled by the Pro-Assad forces. Explosion at HTS warehouses north of Idlib

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This article is really interesting. For me in germany the liberty of the press is really important and is the main part of our constitutions. This case represents that there are countries where the press has to be really careful what it is talking about and how they talk about the government and the politics.  German public prosecutors investigate against Mohammed bin Salman. He is not only accused for murder on Jamal Kashoggi, but also for a crime against humanity. It is about imprisonment, despotism and torture against media representatives.

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Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and other high-ranking Saudi officials have been accused of committing crimes against humanity in a criminal complaint filed in Germany by Reporters without Borders (RSF), the press freedom group.

The 500-page complaint, filed with the German public prosecutor in general in the federal court of justice in Karlsruhe, centres on the "widespread and systematic" persecution of journalists in Saudi Arabia, including the arbitrary detention of 34 journalists there and the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post columnist.

"These journalists are the victims of unlawful killing, torture, sexual violence and coercion and forced disappearance," said Christophe Deloire, the secretary-general of Reporters Without Borders, at a press conference on Tuesday.

The complaint came just days after the US release of an unclassified intelligence report into Khashoggi's 2018 murder in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, which US intelligence agencies said was approved by the 35-year-old Saudi heir.

RSF has chosen to file its complaint in Germany because German laws give its courts jurisdiction over international crimes committed abroad, even without a German connection. RSF indicated that it hoped its complaint, which centres on Prince Mohammed and four senior officials, will lead the German prosecutor to open what is known as a "situation analysis", which could lead to a formal prosecutorial investigation into whether the Saudi officials have committed crimes against humanity by targeting reporters.

"The official opening of a criminal investigation in Germany into the crimes against humanity in Saudi Arabia would be a world first," said RSF Germany director Christian Mihr. "We ask the public prosecutor general to open a situation analysis, with a view to formally launching a prosecutorial investigation and issuing arrest warrants."

The prosecutor's office said it had received the complaint and was assessing its legal and factual merits.

RSF said that the journalists who are in detention are victims of multiple counts of crimes against humanity, including wilful killing, torture, sexual violence and coercion, enforced disappearance, unlawful deprivation of liberty, and persecution. By focusing on dozens of cases of journalists who are being detained, RSF said it was revealing that all Saudi journalists, particularly those who speak out against the government, were under threat.

"The truth has been revealed but that is not enough," said Khashoggi's fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, who said she would give evidence as part of any investigation. "The murderer cannot be allowed to get away with it, otherwise it will happen again."

The bid by RSF to try to get German prosecutors to open a case against the Saudi crown prince followed the recent conviction in Germany of a former Syrian secret police officer of aiding and abetting crimes against humanity for his role in the torture of protesters a decade ago. Eyad al-Gharib, a 44-year-old former low-ranking officer in the Syrian intelligence service, carried out orders in one of Bashar al-Assad's prisons.

The "suspects" in RSF's Saudi case are the crown prince, known as "MBS", his close adviser Saud al-Qahtani, Ahmad Asiri, who has been sanctioned by the US and is alleged to have supervised Khashoggi's murder, Mohammad al-Otaibi, the consul general in Istanbul at the time of the murder, and Maher Mutreb, an intelligence officer who is accused of leading the torture.

The group said in a statement that the named suspects were identified for their "organisational or executive responsibility in Khashoggi's killing, as well as their involvement in developing a state policy to attack and silence journalists."

The Biden administration has been criticised for its decision not to take further actions against Prince Mohammed, even as it publicly acknowledged he was behind the Khashoggi murder.

The US intelligence agencies based the assessment on the prince's "control of decision-making in the kingdom, the direct involvement of a key adviser and members of [the prince's] protective detail in the operation, and [his] support for using violent measures to silence dissidents abroad, including Khashoggi."

It also found that the prince's "absolute control" of the kingdom's security and intelligence organisations made it "highly unlikely" that Saudi officials would have carried out an operation like Khashoggi's murder without his approval.

Khashoggi had gone to the Saudi consulate to pick up documents needed for his wedding. Once inside, he died at the hands of more than a dozen Saudi security and intelligence officials and others who had assembled ahead of his arrival. Surveillance cameras had tracked his route and those of his alleged killers in Istanbul in the hours before his killing.

The Saudi government has denied it planned to assassinate the Washington Post columnist and has said the killing was a rogue operation by Saudi agents.

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Criminal complaint filed against Mohammed bin Salman in German court

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Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and other high-ranking Saudi officials have been accused of committing crimes against humanity in a criminal complaint filed in Germany by Reporters without Borders (RSF), the press freedom group.

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THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - The International Criminal Court on Thursday convicted a one-time child soldier who morphed into a brutal commander in the notorious Ugandan rebel group the Lord's Resistance Army of dozens of war crimes and crimes against humanity, ranging from multiple murders to forced marriages.

Dominic Ongwen, who was abducted by the shadowy militia as a 9-year-old boy and transformed into a child soldier and later promoted to a senior leadership rank, faces a maximum punishment of life imprisonment after being convicted of 61 offenses.

The judgment, which can be appealed, outlined the horrors of the LRA's attacks on camps for displaced civilians in northern Uganda in the early 2000s, and of Ongwen's abuse of women who were forced to be his "wives." Activists welcomed his convictions for crimes against women, which included rape, forced pregnancy and sexual slavery.

Defense lawyers had argued that Ongwen was a "victim and not a victim and perpetrator at the same time."

But Presiding Judge Bertram Schmitt rejected those arguments, saying: "This case is about crimes committed by Dominic Ongwen as a fully responsible adult, as a commander of the LRA in his mid- to late 20s."

Schmitt described the reign of terror unleashed by the Lord's Resistance Army, which was founded and led by one of the world's most-wanted war crimes suspects, Joseph Kony.

Female civilians captured by the group were turned into sex slaves and wives for fighters. The LRA made children into soldiers. Men, women and children were murdered in attacks on camps for internally displaced people.

"Civilians were shot, burned and beaten to death," Schmitt said as he detailed a May 2004 attack on a camp in the Ugandan village of Lukodi carried out by fighters commanded by Ongwen.

Kony promoted Ongwen to the rank of colonel after the attack.

Scores of Lukodi residents gathered around a portable radio to follow the proceedings in The Hague. Some broke down, weeping, when the guilty verdicts came in, according to a local journalist at the scene.

Ongwen showed no emotion as the verdicts were read in court. Usually, defendants are ordered to stand as the presiding judge reads out the verdicts. In Ongwen's case, there were so many that he was allowed to remain seated.

"The LRA terrorized the people of northern Uganda and its neighboring countries for more than two decades. One LRA leader has at last been held to account at the ICC for the terrible abuses victims suffered," said Elise Keppler, associate director of the International Justice Program of Human Rights Watch.

Reacting to the convictions, the International Criminal Court's prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, said her thoughts were with victims of LRA atrocities.

Bensouda acknowledged that Ongwen was once an LRA victim but said he grew into "one of the most senior military leaders, fervently committed to the LRA cause with infamous brutality. As an adult, he was personally responsible for encouraging and committing against others the very crimes that he himself suffered as a child. As proven at trial, he was also a direct perpetrator of terrible sexual violence, including against young girls, some of whom were forcibly "married" to him."

Delphine Carlens, a deputy director at the International Federation for Human Rights, said that Ongwen's convictions for rape, sexual slavery, forced marriage and forced pregnancy constitute "a great advancement in the international recognition of the gravity of such crimes and an important result of the prosecutor's policy on sexual and gender-based crimes."

The Lord's Resistance Army, which began in Uganda as an anti-government rebellion, is accused of atrocities including mass killings, recruiting boys to fight and keeping girls as sex slaves. At the peak of its power, the group was a notoriously brutal outfit whose members for years eluded Ugandan forces in the bushland of northern Uganda.

When military pressure forced the LRA out of Uganda in 2005, the rebels scattered across parts of central Africa. Reports over the years have claimed Kony was hiding in Sudan's Darfur region or in a remote corner of Central African Republic, where LRA fighters continued to kill and abduct in occasional raids on villages, and where Ongwen was arrested in 2015.

Kony became internationally notorious in 2012 when the U.S.-based advocacy group Invisible Children made a viral video highlighting the LRA's crimes. By that time the group had already been weakened by defections as it splintered into smaller, highly mobile groups. Uganda's military estimated in 2013 that the group comprised no more than a few hundred fighters.

"Today's verdict is a reminder that the LRA's chief leader, Joseph Kony, remains a fugitive who has evaded justice for more than 15 years," Keppler said, calling on nations to recommit to bringing him to justice at the ICC."

Invisible Children said this week that 108 children abducted by the LRA remain missing.

Martin Ojara Mapenduzi, chairman of the northern Ugandan district of Gulu, told The Associated Press there were "mixed reactions" among local people.

Some were sad that Ongwen faces years in prison despite himself being a victim of the insurgency, he said, while many others wept for children they don't expect to see again.

"There are so many children who remain unaccounted for. When such a thing happens, it brings back painful memories," Mapenduzi said, referring to Ongwen's conviction.

Mapenduzi said he has a nephew who was abducted in 1996, and the boy's mother still "screams" his name some days, looking for him.

"From 1996 up to now, we don't know whether he is dead or alive," the official said.

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Associated Press writer Rodney Muhumuza in Kampala, Uganda, contributed reporting.

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ICC convicts Ugandan rebel commander of war crimes

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THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - The International Criminal Court on Thursday convicted a one-time child soldier who morphed into a brutal commander in the notorious Ugandan rebel group the Lord's Resistance Army of dozens of war crimes and crimes against humanity, ranging from multiple murders to forced marriages.

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The Indigenous Communities in Brazil and the impact of Covid-19

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The Indigenous Communities in Brazil and the impact of Covid-19

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Are the passive politics of Brazilian Government towards Indigenous Communities in Amazonas an act of genocide?

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INTRODUCTION

Among the many illnesses that have affected the indigenous Brazilians, from the arrival of the Portuguese to the present day, are helminthiasis, syphilis, gonorrhea, rickettsiosis, tuberculosis, pneumonia, whooping cough, malaria, yellow fever, smallpox, measles, chicken pox, and respiratory viruses. Pandemic influenza, the Spanish flu, raged during 1918-1919 and was responsible for the deaths of 20 million people around the world. In Brazil, this disease was responsible for the extinction of countless indigenous ethnic groups. All these epidemics and their devastating consequences to the Indian population show the great vulnerability of these peoples to the introduction of new pathogens.

The year 2020 brings a new disease, COVID-19, with high dissemination potential, which has mobilized health authorities worldwide. Since its emergence in China in December 2019, it has rapidly spread throughout the world, and, by May 11, 2020, it had affected 215 countries, with more than 4 million confirmed cases and more than 350,000 deaths as of June 1, 2020. As in other countries, once it was introduced in Brazil, COVID-19 claimed many victims and raised many questions for its control, especially when dealing with the most susceptible groups, such as Indians. Based on these considerations, we discuss challenges in caring for the indigenous population in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil.

SARS-CoV-2 AND COVID-19: A NEW PANDEMIC IN BRAZIL

HEALTH OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE IN BRAZIL

The Special Secretariat of Indigenous Health (SESAI) of the Ministry of Health, created in 2010, reports the existence of 416 distinct indigenous ethnic groups currently in Brazil. ⁶ According to the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI), the latest census conducted by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics shows an indigenous population of 817,963 distributed throughout the country. ² Although Indians are present in all states of the federation, the Northern Region has the largest number, with the largest concentration in the state of Amazonas. ²

In Brazil, the assistance given to this population is the responsibility of FUNAI. Created in 1967, FUNAI is the official body of the Brazilian state related to the indigenous people, and its mission is to protect and promote the rights of indigenous peoples in the country. In the area of health, SESAI is responsible for coordinating and executing the National Policy for the Health Care of Indigenous Peoples (PNASPI), with the mission of ensuring that indigenous health care is integral, resolute, and humanized. Access to health services for members of the indigenous population, as well as for any Brazilian citizen, is guaranteed, with one of the largest and most complex public health systems in the world. ⁶ Healthcare coverage includes 34 Special Indigenous Health Districts, strategically divided by territorial criteria, based on the geographical occupation of indigenous communities: 1,199 basic indigenous health units and 67 indigenous health support houses.

SARS-CoV-2 AND COVID-19: A DANGER TO BRAZILIAN INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

The COVID-19 pandemic brings great concern to the indigenous population of Brazil. This is nothing new, as infectious and parasitic diseases are among those most responsible for deaths among Indians, especially when compared with the rest of the national population. Outbreaks of respiratory diseases such as H1N1 influenza, in 2009, reinforce the fragility of this portion of the population and suggest that Indians are more susceptible to diseases of the respiratory tract. Therefore, it should be observed that typical cultural behaviors, such as the sharing of gourds and other household utensils, as well as community housing and diverse hygiene practices justify the fear that COVID-19 may spread widely in these communities, causing another stage of decimation.

In addition to the cultural and behavioral aspects of the indigenous people capable of promoting the dissemination of SARS-CoV-2, there is great fear for the socioeconomic relations of communities with non-natives. Commercial activities in the cities to supply the tribes, without the proper recommended prevention measures, and the proximity of the villages to cities where the virus already circulates, can expedite the dissemination of COVID-19 in indigenous lands and tribes. Furthermore, even with social isolation in different regions of the country, missionary actions, the constant invasions of indigenous lands, nonstop hunting, and exploitation activities by logging companies and mines-especially illegal ones-have not ceased in the country. These and other obstacles that have made it difficult to contain the COVID-19 pandemic increase the burden on governments-and especially on FUNAI-for measures to protect native communities.

On April 11, 2020, SESAI reported the death of two indigenous people by COVID-19 in Manaus: a 44-year-old Kokama indigenous woman hospitalized since February 28 for autoimmune hemolytic anemia and a 78-year-old Ticuna indigenous woman hospitalized for cardiovascular treatment. On May 15, 340 confirmed cases, 159 suspected cases, and 21 deaths from COVID-19 were reported in indigenous peoples. The data show a frightening progression of cases, with great concentration in the northern region, especially in the Upper Solimões River (145 cases and 10 deaths), Manaus (38 cases and one death), and Yanomami territory (19 cases and one death).

In this context, government actions have been directed to expand the capacity to attend to COVID-19 cases and avoid the collapse of the health network, which is imminent. Especially in the capital city of Manaus, the number of people in need of hospitalization is increasing daily, and the health system is already operating at the limits of its capacity. As damage containment measures, by May 11, three multidisciplinary teams of the Brazilian National Health System had already been sent to the capital to reinforce care. There was also availability of an online platform that allows physicians to discuss management of each patient in the intensive care unit with other health professionals. Also ongoing are the expansion of hospital beds; hiring of private beds; increases in the transfer of financial resources; sending of supplies, respirators, molecular tests, and individual protection equipment; construction of a campaign hospital with a capacity of 200 beds; convening of health professionals enrolled in the strategic action O Brasil Conta Comigo ("Brazil depends on me"); and intensification of recommendations to the population for the adoption of preventive measures.

Despite these actions, rapid progression to chaos is feared among indigenous people, and this possibility becomes even more worrying, given the high prevalence of risk factors for COVID-19 in this population, such as obesity, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus. This may lead to worse prognosis and increased need for hospitalization and advanced life support, as observed in China and Italy.

Added to these factors are the social vulnerability of indigenous peoples in the face of disrespect for the social distancing of thousands of miners, lumbermen, and land invaders who continue to exploit indigenous territory illegally; the lack of a protective policy for indigenous peoples by the federal government; the lack of structure and limited access to health care, especially high complexity care; a communal lifestyle; lack of an adequate drinking water supply system, poor hygiene conditions, and difficult access to soap and alcohol gel; and exposure in urban centers during searches for emergency financial aid offered by the federal government.

The disaster chronicle can be properly understood when considering the consequences of the H1N1 pandemic in 2009 in Brazil. On that occasion, 34,506 cases of influenza and 1,567 deaths were recorded among indigenous peoples. Among the most affected groups were children younger than 5 years, patients with respiratory and metabolic comorbidities, pregnant women, and indigenous people. In Brazil, the epidemiological behavior of H1N1 assumed a seasonal pattern, with the highest number of cases in the South and Southeast regions, where the climate is more temperate. Although these are the two Brazilian regions with the smallest indigenous population, during the course of H1N1, Indians in these regions were subjected to notoriously higher risks for severe infection, with higher rates of hospitalization and lethality, than the nonindigenous population. Therefore, similar to what occurred with the H1N1 pandemic in 2009, the current prospects for COVID-19 in the indigenous population are of more serious consequence than other segments of the Brazilian population. Statistically, Indians were 4.5 times more affected than others by severe acute respiratory disease during the 2009 pandemic.

Thus, if the strategies to contain the advance of COVID-19 for indigenous peoples are not successful, then it is possible that we will experience another historical tragedy, especially when considering the propagation speed of the virus, and limitations of the Brazilian health system, with a significant overload of patients and scarce resources.

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COVID-19 and Brazilian Indigenous Populations

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Among the many illnesses that have affected the indigenous Brazilians, from the arrival of the Portuguese to the present day, are helminthiasis, syphilis, gonorrhea, rickettsiosis, tuberculosis, pneumonia, whooping cough, malaria, yellow fever, smallpox, measles, chicken pox, and respiratory viruses. Pandemic influenza, the Spanish flu, raged during 1918-1919 and was responsible for the deaths of 20 million people around the world.

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By Guest Writer

Since late last year, hundreds of Ugandans, mostly members of the National Unity Platform, have been abducted, tortured and detained incommunicado in ungazetted places. Some have appeared before the Court Martial on different charges.

Others have been dumped in swamps and forests (in the middle of the night). Almost all those who have been dumped or released have clear signs of what appears to be mental and physical torture.

Although the exact number of those who have been victims of these unlawful activities remains disputed, three things are clear. One, these activities have been carried out by State security agencies and in particular the UPDF and CMI. Two, senior military officers and politicians have either approved these acts or have acquiesced in their commission.

This can be inferred from the statements they have made about these abductions. Three, neither the UPDF nor the DPP has shown any interest in prosecuting those who have allegedly committed these crimes. This is understandable because these people enjoy practical immunity from prosecution.

Uganda ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC Statute). The ICC has jurisdictions over four crimes - genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and aggression. In 2010, the Ugandan Parliament passed the International Criminal Court Act.

This Act domesticates the ICC Statute. Section 8 provides for the crimes against humanity and refers to Article 7 of the ICC Statute for the definition of these crimes.

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Article 7 of the ICC Statute provides that crimes against humanity include torture and enforced disappearance "when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack.'

Article 7(2)(e) defines torture to mean "the intentional infliction of severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, upon a person in the custody or under the control of the accused." Article 7(2) defines enforced disappearance to mean "the arrest, detention or abduction of persons by, or with the authorisation, support or acquiescence of, a State or a political organisation, followed by a refusal to acknowledge that deprivation of freedom or to give information on the fate or whereabouts of those persons, with the intention of removing them from the protection of the law for a prolonged period of time."

The mistreatment to which NUP members have been subjected to amounts to crimes against humanity of torture and enforced disappearance and to possibly other crimes under Article 7.

The perpetrators of these crimes have the necessary intent and knowledge as required by Article 30 of the ICC Statute.
Uganda established the International Crimes Division of the High Court. This Division has jurisdiction over, among others, crimes against humanity.

However, suggesting that the perpetrators of these crimes may be prosecuted before this court would be too optimistic for two reasons.

First, these crimes have been committed with the approval or knowledge of senior military or government officials. They have been committed with the purposes of intimidating and persecuting the opposition and entrenching the government into power.

Secondly, the military is very unlikely to investigate itself or cooperate with any police investigators. The police don't even know how many people have been abducted and where they are being detained.

These are not just crimes under Ugandan law. They are also crimes under international law. It is indisputable that the perpetrators enjoy practical immunity from prosecution in Uganda. They are above the law. A few, of the many examples, illustrate this. Nobody has been prosecuted for the murder of the famous Boxer (Zebra) and of the several Ugandans in the aftermath of the arrest of Bobi Wine.

This is the case although the President, if we to go by his public statements, is fully aware of the military officers who commanded these operations.
Mr Mujuzi is a professor of Law, University of the Western Cape, South Africa. jdmujuzi@uwc.ac.za

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The abduction of citizens is crime against humanity

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By Guest Writer Since late last year, hundreds of Ugandans, mostly members of the National Unity Platform, have been abducted, tortured and detained incommunicado in ungazetted places. Some have appeared before the Court Martial on different charges. Others have been dumped in swamps and forests (in the middle of the night).

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Peace court: Colombia army 'behind 6,400 extrajudicial killings'

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The figure given by a court of inquiry is almost three times higher than previous estimates.

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The “Falsos positivos” case consisted in the systemized murders against civilian population during an internal armed conflict by the Colombian army, with the aim of feign better operation results to obtain benefits and economic retributions. They uncovered the victims as insurgent members, but they were civilians.

There were more than 6,000 civilians who were arrested, tortured, and killed.

The acts were committed by the Colombian army during an internal armed conflict, against civilians that were not taking part. It was clearly a large-scale and systematic attack because it followed a methodical plan, not occurred by chance.

The perpetrators were the Government and the army, two institutional organizations with the policy and the means to commit the crimes.

So, regarding to the systematic character and responsibles, the attack could be considered both a crime against humanity and a war crime.

The cased occurred during an internal armed conflict, so it should be considered a war crime. Furthermore, according to the ICC Statute, in a non-international armed conflict, they will be considered war crimes the acts provided by the Statute against persons who are not taking part in the conflict. In addition, the ICC Statue considers the victims protected persons as far as they were prisoners of war, another characteristic of the war crimes.

Finally, we can confirm that there was knowledge about the acts committed and the nature of the protection of civilian, because, as we said, it is defined in the ICC Statute.

In conclusion, the “False positives” case could be labeled war crime.

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Group discussion about "falsos positivos"

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Group discussion about "falsos positivos"

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Human Rights Watch (HRW) says China's communist government is committing crimes against humanity in its treatment of Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim people in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.

The Chinese leadership is responsible for widespread and systematic policies of mass incarceration, torture, and cultural persecution, among other offenses, HRW said in a report published on April 19, urging coordinated international action to impose sanctions on those responsible, advance accountability, and press the Chinese government to reverse course.

The United States has used the word genocide to describe the treatment of the Uyghurs.

China denies genocide. It has described Xinjiang as an internal matter and rejected abuse allegations. Beijing claims internment camps in the region provide vocational training and help fight Islamic extremism.

The report, titled "Break Their Lineage, Break Their Roots": China's Crimes Against Humanity Targeting Uyghurs and Other Turkic Muslims, documents a wide array of human rights violations such as: mass arbitrary detention, torture, enforced disappearances, mass surveillance, cultural and religious erasure, separation of families, forced returns to China, forced labor, and sexual violence and violations of reproductive rights.

"Acts of torture include interrogation in 'tiger chairs' using electroshock and other violent means of interrogation, and beatings, prolonged solitary confinement, sexual violence, and deprivation of food or water that are arbitrarily inflicted on detainees," the report says.

The abuses are "part of a widespread and systematic attack directed against a population," says the report put together with assistance from Stanford Law School's Human Rights and Conflict Resolution Clinic.

"Chinese authorities have systematically persecuted Turkic Muslims -- their lives, their religion, their culture," said Sophie Richardson, China director at New York-based HRW.

"Beijing has said it's providing 'vocational training' and 'deradicalization,' but that rhetoric can't obscure a grim reality of crimes against humanity," Richardson said.

The report lists a number of acts that it says represent "cultural persecution," such as: the razing of mosques and other religiously or culturally important sites, the involuntary implantation of contraceptive devices in Turkic Muslim women, and the forced indoctrination of Turkic Muslims both inside and outside of camps.

The report notes that in recent years, the level of official oppression of Turkic Muslims has reached "unprecedented levels," adding higher levels of forced labor, broad surveillance, and unlawful separation of children from their families to methods already in use like mass detention and restrictions on practicing Islam.

"It's increasingly clear that Chinese government policies and practices against the Turkic Muslim population in Xinjiang meet the standard for crimes against humanity under international criminal law," said Beth Van Schaack, from the Stanford Center for Human Rights and International Justice.

"The government's failure to stop these crimes, let alone punish those responsible, shows the need for strong and coordinated international action," Van Schaack said.

The authors of the report urge the UN Human Rights Council to establish a body invested with authority to probe allegations of crimes against humanity, identify officials responsible for abuses, and come up with ways to hold them accountable.

The report recommends imposing visa and travel bans as well as targeted sanctions on those responsible for crimes committed against people in Xinjiang, as well as trade restrictions and other moves to end the use of forced labor in China.

"It is increasingly clear that a coordinated global response is needed to end China's crimes against humanity against Turkic Muslims," Richardson said. "That China is a powerful state makes it all the more important for holding it accountable for its unrelenting abuses."

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Watchdog Accuses China Of Crimes Against Humanity In Xinjiang

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Human Rights Watch (HRW) says China's communist government is committing crimes against humanity in its treatment of Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim people in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.