UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet released the report on Wednesday, which said China’s “arbitrary and discriminatory detention” of Uyghurs and other Muslims in the western China region may amount to crimes against humanity. China has strongly denied any abuses in Xinjiang and issued a 131-page response to the 48-page UN report, calling it “completely illegal and invalid”. Chinese officials initially denied the existence of detention camps, but later admitted the government had set up “vocational training centers” necessary to curb what it said was terrorism, separatism and religious radicalism in Xinjiang. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in a statement that the report authoritatively describes China’s “abhorrent treatment” of ethnic and religious minorities. “This report deepens and confirms our grave concern about the ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity committed by the DPRK government authorities against the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and members of other ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang,” Blinken said, referring to the People’s Republic of China. US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said separately that the United States will work with allies and partners to demand an end to China’s abuses. “It is critical that the full membership of the Human Rights Council has the opportunity to formally discuss the findings of this report as soon as possible and that the perpetrators of these atrocities are held accountable,” she said in a statement. WATCHES | “Significant and damning” report:
Uyghur UN report ‘condemning’ China: ex-ambassador
Canada’s former ambassador to China Guy Saint-Jacques says the UN human rights chief’s report on China’s treatment of the Muslim minority Uyghurs is “significant and damning”.
Uyghurs abroad welcome the publication of the report
Among Uighurs who have fled abroad, there was a palpable sense of relief that the report had finally seen the light of day, as many had worried it would never be published. Several saw it as a vindication of their cause and years of advocacy work. “The report is quite damning and a powerful indictment of China’s crimes against humanity,” said Raihan Asat, a Uyghur lawyer whose brother is jailed in Xinjiang. “It is a truly long-awaited recognition of the Uyghurs and their unimaginable suffering, coming from the world’s most authoritative voice on human rights.” The UN findings came in part from interviews with more than two dozen former detainees and others familiar with conditions at eight detention centers. They described being beaten with clubs, interrogated while having water poured on their faces, and forced to sit still on small stools for long periods. Some said they were prevented from praying – and made to work overnight shifts to ensure their fellow prisoners did not pray or break other rules. Women said they were forced to perform oral sex on guards or undergo gynecological examinations in front of large groups of people. The report said the descriptions of the detentions featured patterns of torture and other cruel and inhumane treatment, and that allegations of rape and other sexual violence appeared “credible”. People protest at a Uyghur rally on February 5, 2019, in front of the US mission to the United Nations in New York. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images) “The extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uighurs and other predominantly Muslim groups… [the] context of restrictions and deprivation of fundamental rights in general… may constitute international crimes, especially crimes against humanity,” the report states. He made no mention of the genocide, which some countries, including the United States, have accused China of perpetrating in Xinjiang. The rights office said it could not confirm estimates that a million or more people were being held in detention camps in Xinjiang, but added that it was “reasonable to conclude that there was a pattern of large-scale arbitrary detention” between at least 2017 and 2019.
It calls for accountability
The assessment concluded that China has committed serious human rights violations as part of its anti-terrorism and anti-extremism policies and calls on the UN, the global community and China itself to address them with “urgent attention”. Human Rights Watch said the report laid a solid foundation for further UN action to establish accountability for abuses. Chinese President Xi Jinping inspects a village in Turpan, China’s Xinjiang region, on July 14. Xi has shown no signs of backing down from policies that have drawn harsh criticism from the US and many European countries. (Li Xueren/Xinhua/The Associated Press) “It has never been more important for the UN system to stand up to Beijing and stand with the victims,” said John Fisher, the group’s deputy director of global advocacy. Rahima Mahmut, UK director of the World Uyghur Congress, said she was relieved the report had finally been released — but did not hope it would change the behavior of the Chinese government, and called on the international community to send a message to Beijing that “businesses cannot be as usual.” That the report was released was in some ways as important as its content. Outgoing rights chief Bachelet said she had to resist pressure both to publish and not to publish. She announced in June that the report would be made public by the end of her four-year term on Wednesday, prompting a surge in backroom campaigning — including letters from civil society, citizens and governments on both sides of the issue. Why he waited until the last minute to release the report remains unclear. Critics had said the failure to publish the report would be a glaring black mark on her tenure. “The inexcusable delay in publishing this report stains” the UN human rights office’s record, said Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary-general, “but that should not detract from its importance.” WATCHES | Condemning UN report on China’s treatment of Uyghurs:
China’s treatment of Uighurs may be a crime against humanity: UN
China’s detention of Uyghurs and other mainly Muslim ethnic groups in Xinjiang may amount to crimes against humanity, the UN human rights office says. Beijing says the internment camps are a tool to fight terrorism.
