A Federal Court has struck down an application from a Uyghur rights group that sought to sue the federal government over its lack of action on Beijing’s human rights atrocities against the Uyghur minority population in China.
The petition also sought to gain formal recognition that China’s internment of its Uyghur population is an act of genocide, and that the Liberal’s inaction on the matter it had amounted to a violation of a United Nations convention against genocide.
“URAP is challenging Canada’s failure to act. However, Canada has not implemented any policy about whether to act or not. Rather, it has decided not to act,” Diner wrote, saying the courts can only rule on whether the government is following existing laws and policies.
The Convention says in Article I that “The Contracting Parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to prevent and to punish.”
“This lack of action, according to URAP, contributes to the crimes committed against the Uyghur people of China,” said the court decision.
As a remedy from the judicial review, URAP asked the Court to declare at least one of its five claims, including that “The crime of genocide is currently being committed against the Uyghur population on the territory of the PRC, since at least 2014” and that “Canada, by its acts and omissions, is in breach of article I of the Convention.”
The Attorney General argued that the URAP application should be dismissed, citing reasons including that the petition “raises issues that are not justiciable due to their political nature.”
Justice Diner agreed, saying in his decision that “The mere potential existence of a genocide does not automatically ground proceedings before the Court.”
Mehmet Tohti, executive director at URAP, told The Epoch Times that the court’s dismissal of the case was likely on “jurisdictional grounds” and that his group’s legal application wasn’t asking for a court ruling on the matter, but rather to seek “declaratory relief from the judge.”
Motions
On Jan. 30, days after the court struck the URAP application, MPs took up debate on a private member’s motion asking the cabinet to formally acknowledge communist China’s crimes against humanity.MPs are set to vote on Zuberi’s motion on Feb. 1.
The Liberal cabinet abstained from the vote, however, and Trudeau has said more formal investigations are needed to determine whether genocide has occurred.
“The word ‘genocide’ is not one to be used lightly,” Conservative MP Ziad Aboultaif said in the House on Jan. 30. “It was with that definition in mind that this House, on February 22, 2021, recognized that genocide is indeed taking place, being carried out by the People’s Republic of China against Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims.”
He added, however, that “Since that motion passed in the House, the government has not addressed the concerns it raised.”
“If we do not act now, when will we?” Aboultaif said.