Autocratic Challenges to International Human Rights Law: A Chinese Case Study

Abstract Drawing on a case study of the implications China’s atrocities in Xinjiang context historical engagement with UN and its human rights mechanisms, this article examines autocracies’ impact institutions practices international law. It argues that rather than creating new law turns as whole (more) authoritarian, Chinese party-state is primarily—and even more dangerously—corroding practices, while expanding neo-totalitarian governance discourses to global level. The autocratic corrosion exacerbated by attempts weaken accountability under from within liberal democracies, amounting synergic corrosive effects. Yet, norms must not be equated elimination powerful ideas underpinning responses institutional challenges identified here.