Uyghurs in Australia have said they are elated and relieved after the United States released an official statement accusing China of committing genocide against the Muslim group and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang. Key points: Genocide is defined as the intent to destroy members of an ethnic or religious group The US made the accusation after seeing "an exhaustive documentation of [China's] own policies" Human rights groups have accused China of carrying out forced sterilisation of Uyghurs Fatimah Abdulghafur, a Uyghur who has been living in Sydney since 2017, told the ABC the US announcement is a "huge victory for the whole of humankind" and "not just for my people". "This means in this world, if someone including a global superpower, regardless of what they have done, even if it's something so evil and so criminal, it means they will be accountable," she said. Ms Abdulghafur suspects her father was detained in a re-education camp in the autonomous region of Xinjiang in 2017. Chinese authorities confirmed he died in Xinjiang in 2018, attributing his death to severe pneumonia and tuberculosis in 2018. "It's a very, very personal thing for me," she said. "From my personal point of view, my father's murderers will be in court sooner or later, just like with the Holocaust." US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Beijing is trying to "destroy" the ethnic group by committing "genocide and crimes against humanity". "I believe this genocide is ongoing, and that we are witnessing the systematic attempt to destroy Uyghurs by the Chinese party-state," he said. Fighting for their culture A woman adjusts a flower in another's braids. They are wearing traditional fur hats. China is perpetrating a "cultural genocide" against Uyghurs in Xinjiang, but in Australia, they are dancing in defiance in a bid to save their culture. Read more US officials said the statement followed "an exhaustive documentation of [China's] own policies, practices and abuse in Xinjiang" since at least March 2017. Genocide is defined as the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, members of an ethnic or religious group, and can include killing members of the group, preventing births, and causing serious bodily or mental harm to a group. Human rights groups have accused China of arbitrarily detaining Uyghur Muslims, of carrying out forced sterilisation, and of subjecting Uyghur Muslims to forced labour practices. China has repeatedly denied the facilities are "concentration camps" and describes them as vocational education centres akin to boarding schools. Uyghurs call on Australia to condemn China