Increasing Pressure on European Extraditions to China

09-01-2023

Theresa Erna Jürgenssen

East Asia Human Rights Researcher

Global Human Rights Defence

Turkey’s Foreign Minister gave a statement last week declaring that Turkey would not extradite any Uyghurs with Turkish citizenship to China despite the pressure China is placing on Turkey to do so (Tarim, 2023). He referred to a report issued in August 2022 by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights according to which the treatment of Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities in Xinjiang “may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity” (OHCHR, para. 148). The Foreign Minister called for a reaction to human rights violations that had been detailed by the report (Tarim, 2023).

With increasing recognition of the human rights violations committed against Uyghurs in China, an extradition of an Uyghur would, in fact, likely violate the European Convention on Human Rights. This is because Uyghurs extradited to China likely face a real risk of ill-treatment and arbitrary detention in violation of the Convention. However, not only extraditions of Uyghurs can result in a violation of the European Convention. On October 6, 2022, the European Court of Human Rights issued its first ever judgement in relation to an extradition to China. In the case Liu v. Poland (application no. 37610/18), the Court unanimously declared that the applicant would face a real risk of ill-treatment in detention if extradited to China in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights. In this case the applicant was accused of economic crimes alone and had not claimed to be politically persecuted or sensitive (Safeguard Defenders, 2023). Thus, the decision has a wide impact on possibly any extradition to China. 

The European Court’s decision was set to go into effect on January 06, 2023, but it was appealed by Poland on January 05, 2023 – the very last moment it could still be appealed (Safeguard Defenders, 2023). Should the Grand Chamber of the European Court come to the same conclusion, this will have a major impact on all extraditions to China from countries that are members to the Council of Europe. Between 2020-2022 there have been 17 cases on extradition requests to China in Europe – in 8 of these the request was denied, in another 8 it was approved, and in one case the applicant committed suicide after spending two years in detention waiting for a decision (Safeguard Defenders, 2023). Another three cases are currently pending in Cyprus, Italy, and Spain (Safeguard Defenders, 2023). Should the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights confirm the previous decision these other cases will likely follow and implement that judgement. 

Sources and further reading:

Safeguard Defenders. (2023, January 06). Cyprus denies China extradition, Poland appeals ECtHR decision last minute. Safeguard Defenders. Retrieved on January 09, 2022, from https://safeguarddefenders.com/en/blog/cyprus-denies-china-extradition-poland-appeals-ecthr-decision-last-minute. 

Tarim, E. (2023, January 03). Turkey won’t extradite Uyghurs to China, foreign minister says. Radio Free Asia. Retrieved on January 09, 2022, from https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/mevlut-cavusoglu-01032023173927.html. 

OHCHR. (2022, August 31). OHCHR Assessment of human rights concerns in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, People’s Republic of China. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/countries/2022-08-31/22-08-31-final-assesment.pdf.