The International Criminal Court (I.C.C.) has given prosecutors permission to use a previously recorded statement from a witness in the murder and crimes against humanity trial of Former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (F.P.R.R.D.). In a ruling released on Oct. 2, Trial Chamber III agreed to the prosecution’s request to submit the written testimony of a…
Human Rights Concerns Persist After Trump-Xi Meeting
Photo via SBS News
After being disappointed by the Trump–Xi summit, Uyghurs in the United States (U.S.) are divided on Washington’s commitment to ending abuses in China.
Before U.S. President Donald Trump flew to Beijing last month, Uyghur activist Ms. Rushan Abbas hoped the summit would bring a breakthrough for her imprisoned sister, who has been detained in a Chinese prison for nearly eight years.
Both the Senate and the House passed resolutions just days before Mr. Trump’s departure, urging him to push for the release of six Chinese Communist Party detainees, including her sister, Dr. Gulshan Abbas.
“I am asking the leader of the free world to look a dictator in the eye and demand the return of my sister, a soul who has been stolen by the machinery of hate,” Ms. Abbas wrote in a May 14 commentary in The Hill.
However, Mr. Trump’s meetings with Chinese leader Mr. Xi Jinping failed to produce any immediate breakthroughs for the Uyghurs’ decade-long plight, and neither side mentioned human rights as part of the discussions.
The news affected Uyghurs living in the U.S. in different ways. Some expressed bitterness, while Ms. Abbas said she is trying to remain hopeful.
“I still believe that the people in the White House and the State Department are trying everything they can. Not everything is public—there are both public and private conversations,” Ms. Abbas told The Diplomat a week after the summit.
Ms. Abbas, who now lives in Falls Church, Virginia, is among an estimated 12,000 Uyghurs residing in the United States. Her sister, a retired medical doctor, was arrested shortly after Ms. Abbas spoke publicly about the persecution of Uyghurs.
Since 2017, more than one million Uyghurs and other Turkic ethnic groups have reportedly been detained in China’s Xinjiang region, with many subjected to surveillance, forced labor, and other human rights abuses. The U.S. government has previously labeled these actions as genocide, a claim that China denies.
Despite strong support from some U.S. lawmakers, many Uyghur families continue to seek international assistance, while others are beginning to question whether Washington will take stronger action in the future.