China slams UN report alleging litany of rights abuses in Xinjiang

China slams UN report alleging litany of rights abuses in Xinjiang

The United Nations released a bombshell report late on August 31, 2022 into serious human rights abuses in China's Xinjiang region, saying torture allegations were credible and citing possible crimes against humanity
The United Nations released a bombshell report late on August 31, 2022 into serious human rights abuses in China's Xinjiang region, saying torture allegations were credible and citing possible crimes against humanity. Photo: Ozan KOSE / AFP/File
Source: AFP

New feature: Check out news exactly for YOU ➡️ find “Recommended for you” block and enjoy!

A UN report said claims of torture and forced labour in China's Xinjiang are credible and warned crimes against humanity may have taken place, allegations condemned Thursday by Beijing as a "political tool" aimed at containing the country.

The landmark report detailed a string of rights violations against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the far-western region, bringing the UN seal to many of the allegations long brought by activist groups, Western nations and the Uyghur community in exile.

However, the report stopped short of calling China's actions in Xinjiang genocide -- claims made by the United States and several Western lawmakers.

"The extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim groups... may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity," the report said.

Read also

UN report lists litany of rights abuses in China's Xinjiang

It said the world must now pay "urgent attention" to the human rights situation in Xinjiang.

Beijing hit back hard against the report -- over a year in the making -- and maintained its firm opposition to its release, sharing an over-100-page document from the Xinjiang provincial government defending its policies in the region.

PAY ATTENTION: Follow us on Instagram - get the most important news directly in your favourite app!

"The so-called critical report you mentioned is planned and manufactured firsthand by the US and some Western forces, it is wholly illegal and invalid," foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a regular briefing Thursday.

Xinjiang birth rate
Chart comparing the birth rate in China's northwest Xinjiang region with the general birth rate around China.. Photo: John SAEKI / AFP
Source: AFP

"The report is a hodgepodge of misinformation, and it is a political tool which serves as part of the West's strategy of using Xinjiang to control China," he added.

Wang also slammed the UN rights office as having "sunk to becoming the thug and accomplice of the US and the West" but said the report's omission in calling China's actions genocide shows their "lies... have fallen apart".

Read also

UN rights chief to publish Xinjiang report on Wednesday

Michelle Bachelet, the UN human rights chief, said she had decided that a full assessment was needed of the situation inside the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).

Bachelet was determined to release it before her four-year term as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights expired at the end of August -- and did so with 13 minutes to spare at 11:47 pm in Geneva.

"I said that I would publish it before my mandate ended and I have," Bachelet said in an email sent to AFP on Thursday.

"The politicisation of these serious human rights issues by some states did not help."

'Serious human rights violations'

Beijing has vehemently rejected claims of rights violations, insisting it is running vocational centres designed to curb extremism
Beijing has vehemently rejected claims of rights violations, insisting it is running vocational centres designed to curb extremism. Photo: Greg Baker / AFP/File
Source: AFP

China has been accused for years of detaining more than one million Uyghurs and other Muslims in the region.

Beijing has vehemently rejected the claims, insisting it is running vocational centres designed to curb extremism.

"Serious human rights violations have been committed in XUAR in the context of the government's application of counter-terrorism and counter-'extremism' strategies," the UN report said.

Read also

IAEA inspectors set off for Russian-held Ukrainian nuclear plant

The assessment raised concerns about the treatment of people held in China's so-called Vocational Education and Training Centres (VETCs).

"Allegations of patterns of torture or ill-treatment, including forced medical treatment and adverse conditions of detention, are credible, as are allegations of individual incidents of sexual and gender-based violence," the report said.

The UN Human Rights Office could not confirm how many people were affected by the VETCs but concluded that the system operated on a "wide scale" across the entire region.

The number in the VETCs, at least between the years 2017 and 2019, "was very significant, comprising a substantial proportion of the Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim minority populations".

Campaigners have accused China of forcibly sterilising women, and the report cited "credible indications of violations of reproductive rights through the coercive enforcement of family planning policies".

'A game-changer'

Non-governmental organisations and campaign groups have said the report should act as a launchpad for further action.

Read also

China's Communist Party Congress to open October 16

Human Rights Watch's China director Sophie Richardson said the "damning" findings of sweeping rights abuses showed why Beijing "fought tooth and nail" to prevent its publication.

The response from the Uyghur activist community was mixed, with some groups praising its work while others wished it had gone further in its condemnation of Beijing's actions in Xinjiang.

"This is a game-changer for the international response to the Uyghur crisis," said Uyghur Human Rights Project executive director Omer Kanat.

"Despite the Chinese government's strenuous denials, the UN has now officially recognised that horrific crimes are occurring."

And World Uyghur Congress president Dolkun Isa said the report paved the way for "meaningful and tangible action" by countries, businesses and the UN, adding: "Accountability starts now."

But Salih Hudayar, a Uyghur-American who campaigns for Xinjiang independence, told AFP the report was "sadly not as strong as we had hoped".

"Our people have been waiting years for the UN to speak out," said Hudayar.

Read also

UN rights chief leaving with China report still unreleased

"Unfortunately, because of Chinese government pressure the UN has long remained silent."

New feature: check out news exactly for YOU ➡️ find "Recommended for you" block and enjoy!

Source: AFP

Authors:
AFP avatar

AFP AFP text, photo, graphic, audio or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. AFP news material may not be stored in whole or in part in a computer or otherwise except for personal and non-commercial use. AFP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions in any AFP news material or in transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages whatsoever. As a newswire service, AFP does not obtain releases from subjects, individuals, groups or entities contained in its photographs, videos, graphics or quoted in its texts. Further, no clearance is obtained from the owners of any trademarks or copyrighted materials whose marks and materials are included in AFP material. Therefore you will be solely responsible for obtaining any and all necessary releases from whatever individuals and/or entities necessary for any uses of AFP material.