World News | UN committee calls for investigation into human rights violations in Xinjiang

Geneva [Switzerland]25 November (ANI): A UN committee has called on China to immediately investigate all allegations of human rights violations in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR), including torture, ill-treatment, sexual violence, forced labor, enforced disappearances and deaths in custody.

Under its early warning and urgent action procedures, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) also called on China to immediately release all those arbitrarily deprived of their liberty in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, whether in so-called Vocational Education and Training Centers (VETCs) or other detention facilities.

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In a statement, the UN Human Rights Office said the committee urged the State party to immediately cease all intimidation and reprisals against Uyghurs and other Muslim communities, the diaspora, and those who defend themselves at home and abroad.

It demands that Beijing ensure adequate and effective remedies and compensation for victims of human rights abuses, including Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic groups.

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According to OHCHR, the committee also recommended that China conduct a comprehensive review of its legal framework on national security, counter-terrorism and minority rights in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region to ensure that it fully implements its obligations as a party to the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination . All forms of racism.

Furthermore, it urges the State party to effectively implement its 2018 recommendations, as well as the 2015 concluding observations of the Committee against Torture, and the August 2022 assessment of human rights in Xinjiang by the UN Human Rights Office.

“The main purpose of the Early Warning and Urgent Action Procedure of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is to consider situations that may lead to conflict in order to take appropriate preventive measures to avoid comprehensive violations of human rights enshrined in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), Human Rights the office said.

A total of 182 countries are members of ICERD. They are subject to periodic reviews of how they are implementing the convention by a committee of 18 independent international experts.

In 2018, the Committee reviewed periodic reports submitted by China and issued concluding observations, which expressed a number of concerns, including human rights violations of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang. (Arnie)

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