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More than 40 mainly Western countries criticized China in the United Nations because they reportedly tortured and suppressed most people. Muslim Uighurs As well as other religions and ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, focus on an area where foreign governments and researchers say 1 million or more people are held in camps.
The 43 countries that signed a statement criticizing China on Thursday expressed particular concern about “credible reports” of the existence of “re-education camps” in Xinjiang.
The French ambassador to the United Nations, Nicolas De Riviere, presented the report at a meeting of the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations General Assembly.
“We call on China to allow independent observers, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and his office, to enter Xinjiang immediately, meaningfully and unrestricted,” these countries said.
This is the third time in three years that the United States and mainly European countries have used the Human Rights Commission meeting to criticize China’s policies towards Uyghurs.
Earlier this week, the think tank Australian Institute of Strategic Policy (ASPI) released a new report detailing Xinjiang’s “Suppression of Construction” It is said to be developed to oppress Uyghurs.
The report stated that at least 1,869,310 Uyghurs and other citizens in Xinjiang were singled out after they were found using the mobile messaging app Kuaiya.
In response, Cuba immediately issued a confrontational statement on behalf of 62 other countries, saying that Xinjiang is China’s internal affair. The competitor’s statement dismissed all allegations of abuse based on “political motives” and “false information.”
Zhang Jun, China’s ambassador to the United Nations, then gave a speech, condemning “baseless accusations” and “lie”, and accused the United States and some other unnamed signatories of “using human rights as an excuse to engage in political manipulation to provoke confrontation.”
He resolutely defended Xinjiang’s development, saying that the lives of the people in Xinjiang are getting better day by day. “Your conspiracy to obstruct China’s development is doomed to fail.”
Competitor statement
These conflicting statements underscore the long-standing tensions between China and the world’s liberal democracies on human rights issues.
These tensions are especially escalating with the United States and include other issues including the COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan, trade, and Beijing’s extensive claims to the South China Sea.
In 2019, 23 countries signed a statement read by the United Kingdom.
In 2020, 39 countries signed a statement read by Germany, and this year there are four more signatories to the statement.
However, Switzerland refused to sign the statement because diplomatic sources stated that it recently hosted a high-level meeting between the United States and China and decided to make its role as a mediator between the two powers a priority. Instead of signing an annual declaration calling for respect. Human rights in Xinjiang.
The latest UN statement is shocked by Xinjiang’s “strict restrictions on freedom of religion or belief, freedom of movement, association and speech, and Uyghur culture”. [File: Thomas Peter/Reuters]At the same time, Cuba, which had only 45 signatories last year, has 17 more countries supporting China this year.
43 countries stated in the statement: “We are seeing more and more reports of widespread and systematic violations of human rights, including records of torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, forced sterilization, sexual violence, and gender-based Reports of violence. And forcing children to separate.”
They said: “Freedom of religion or belief, freedom of movement, association and speech, and Uyghur culture are severely restricted.”
The statement added: “Extensive surveillance continues to target Uighurs and other ethnic minority members disproportionately,” while urging UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet and other UN officials to investigate.
China’s Zhang said that Bachelet had a “long-term invitation” to visit and “consultations are still ongoing.”
He emphasized that this visit should be “friendly” and should not start with “presumption of guilt.”
“This is unacceptable for China,” Zhang said.
Bachelet first asked Beijing for permission to conduct a fact-finding in Xinjiang in December 2018.
The head of UN rights protection usually only conducts country visits, provided that the host government provides guarantees under certain conditions, including unrestricted access to key locations and the right to talk to activists.
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