• PugJesus@lemmy.worldOP
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      4 months ago

      I see you didn’t even read the small excerpt I pulled out; I’ll post it again in the vain hope that you might read it this time.

      The cautious conclusions of State Department lawyers do not constitute a judgment that genocide did not occur in Xinjiang but reflects the difficulties of proving genocide, which involves the destruction “in whole or in part” of a group of people based on their national, religious, racial, or ethnic identity, in a court of law. It also points to a disconnect between public perception of the crime of genocide and the legal definition in the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which has long been interpreted by State Department lawyers to require intent to bring about the physical and biological destruction of a group.

      “Genocide is difficult to prove in court,” said Richard Dicker, an expert on international justice at Human Rights Watch. Even the most horrific of crimes—burning of villages, systematic rape, or the execution of large numbers of civilians—can not be considered genocide unless the perpetrators carry out their crimes “with a very specific intent—the intent, of course, being to destroy in whole or in part a population based on their religious, ethnic, or national background,” he said.

        • PugJesus@lemmy.worldOP
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          4 months ago

          You:

          state dept: this isn’t a genocide (we still think it’s really bad though)

          The source, explicitly:

          The cautious conclusions of State Department lawyers do not constitute a judgment that genocide did not occur in Xinjiang

          Sorry that English is so difficult for you to parse.

          jk, I know you understand, you just find simping for fascism more fun. :)

            • PugJesus@lemmy.worldOP
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              4 months ago

              That sentence is from the POV of the article’s author, not the POV of the state dept’s lawyers.

              The Biden team during the campaign reached the conclusion that China had carried out genocide several months before Pompeo’s declaration. In August 2020, Biden’s presidential campaign issued a statement concluding that China’s mass internment of Uighur Muslims and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang amounts to “genocide.” Blinken reiterated that view during his confirmation hearing. Pressed on whether he agreed with Pompeo’s assertion that genocide occurred in Xinjiang, Blinken answered, “That would be my judgment as well.”

              But Thomas-Greenfield, however, appeared to hedge during a subsequent confirmation hearing, saying that while the situation “feels like” genocide, she was awaiting the findings of a State Department review. “I know the State Department is reviewing that as we speak,” she said, before later aligning her position with Blinken’s.

              “Secretary Blinken and I have made clear that genocide has been committed against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang,” she wrote in response to a question from Sen. Marco Rubio.

              Did you read ANY of the article you posted, or do you just read headlines?