IHL in China

China: Tenth international humanitarian law moot court opens in Beijing | International Committee of the Red Cross International humanitarian law is defined by the international red cross as a set of rules which seek, for humanitarian reasons, to limit the effects of armed conflict. It protects persons who are not or are no longer participating in the hostilities and restricts the means and methods of warfare. International humanitarian law is also known as the law of war or the law of armed conflict. China has agreements in place, in theory supporting international humanitarian law. China is a party to major international humanitarian treaties, including the Geneva Conventions Convention of 1949 and two Additional Protocols of 1977. Additionally in 2007, China established the National Committee on International Humanitarian Law to promote the coordination, promotion and application of IHL throughout China. It has also hosted multiple International Committee of the Red Cross seminars to discuss International Humanitarian Law. However, in practice China is violating many human rights. They definitely have the asian view that values such as social and economic rights take precedence over civil and political rights. Also they have values such as rights are a matter of national sovereignty and other governments should not interfere. The treatment of the Uyghurs are China’s most obvious human right violations. They are putting them in modern day concentration camps and torturing them. This is a very clear ethnic genocide. China’s official policy of diluting and reducing the Uyghurs population obviously violates international human rights law. Furthermore, their treatment of the Uyghurs also violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR); International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR); International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICRD); and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), all ratified by China. To top it off, the campaign against the Uyghurs even violates China’s own constitution. So even though China technically has agreed to many human right and humanitarian law treaties, they are not following them at all.