On Monday, fifty mostly Western nations called on China to fully enact all recommendations in a U. N. report that accused it of possibly committing “crimes against humanity” against Uyghurs and other primarily Muslim ethnic groups. This includes moving quickly to free everyone who has been “arbitrarily deprived of their liberty” in the far western province of Xinjiang.
The U.N. of Canada
At a meeting of the General Assembly’s human rights committee, Ambassador Bob Rae read a statement in which he expressed serious concern about the human rights situation in China and Beijing’s failure to date to address the report’s findings regarding the ongoing violations against the Uyghurs and other Muslim groups.
Human rights organisations claim China pushed a million or more members of minority groups into detention facilities where many claim they suffered sexual assault, torture, and being forced to renounce their faith and language. The camps were only a small component of what human rights groups have described as a brutal campaign against extremism in Xinjiang, which also included harsh birth control laws and extensive limitations on people’s freedom of travel.
On August 31, in the last hours of Michelle Bachelet’s four-year tenure as High Commissioner for Human Rights, the U. N. human rights office’s evaluation was made public. It mainly supported earlier reporting by academics, advocacy organisations, and the media.
The report found that China has violated serious human rights under its anti-terrorism and anti-extremism measures and demanded that the U.N. give the situation “immediate attention.”
China itself, as well as the global community, to confront them.
The report “offers an essential contribution to the existing evidence of serious and systemic human rights violations in China,” according to the statement from the 50 countries. It is described as “an impartial, authoritative evaluation that relies substantially on China’s own records.”
The nations voiced worry about “China’s so far refusal to address its findings” in light of “the gravity” of the report’s assessment and encouraged the administration to “completely execute the recommendations.”
The 50 nations requested China to clarify “the fate and whereabouts of missing family members” and set up safe contacts and reunions in addition to urging for the fulfilment of the recommendation to free all those unfairly held.
The Uyghur Human Rights Project tweeted in reaction to the claim, saying, “A increasing number of UN member states are pushing back on China’s treatment of Uyghurs.
Britain’s Foreign Minister James Cleverly tweeted that the statement “supported by a record 50 countries across 6 continents, demonstrates growing breadth of international concern.
The fifty nations that endorsed the declaration were: Albania, Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belize, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Eswatini, Finland, France, Germany, Guatemala, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Marshall Islands, Monaco, Montenegro, Nauru, Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Palau, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino,
A week ago, the U. S. , the United Kingdom, and other parties held a meeting to discuss the former high commissioner’s report. N. ambassadors, proponents of Uyghur human rights, and the U. N. special investigator for Human Rights Watch and minority rights.
China’s U.N. Mission distributed a letter to every U. N. member states strongly urged them to boycott “this anti-China event” and expressed their “resolute opposition” to the summit.
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The letter, which The Associated Press was able to get, claimed that the occurrence was politically motivated. The co-sponsors use human rights concerns as a political instrument to meddle in China’s domestic affairs, such as those in Xinjiang, to sow discord and unrest, and to obstruct China’s growth.
The letter accused the event’s sponsors of breaking “the goals and principles of the U. N. Charter and conventions of international relations” and referred to the event as “disinformation propaganda.”
Canada is one of 50 nations pleading with China to free the jailed Uyghurs.
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