“crimes against humanity” committed by China?

UYGHUR. On August 31, 2022, a UN report was released. It points to the actions of the Chinese government against the Muslim Uyghur community. The report describes potential “crimes against humanity”.

[Mis à jour le 2 septembre 2022 à 13h30] The United Nations (UN) has published a report in which it notes that the Chinese regime is committing “serious violations” of human rights against Uyghur Muslims on its soil, in the Xinjang region. The official document was published on Wednesday August 31, 2022, at the end of Michelle Bachelet’s term at the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). “The extent of the arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of the Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim groups (…) may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity”, writes the Organization in its report, available online. This document claims to have “credible evidence” of torture and sexual violence against the Muslim Uyghur minority, it calls on the international community to act.

Following this publication, the Quai d’Orsay published a press release on Thursday, September 1. France is “deeply concerned by the conclusions of the report”, he assures. The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs highlights “cases of arbitrary detention, torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment, enforced disappearances, enforced sterilizations, gender-based and sexual violence and family separations” , reports France news. France calls on China to “put an end to human rights violations against the Uyghur populations and other persons belonging to minorities”. Internationally, US Foreign Minister Anthony Blinken has called China to account for what he calls “genocide”. The word was not used in the UN report.

Dolkun Isa, president of the World Uyghur Congress, reacted quickly to the publication of this report. “This document paves the way for serious and tangible action by Member States, UN agencies and companies. The time for accountability is now,” he said in an official statement. The NGO Human Rights Watch for China considered, in a press release published on September 1, that the UN now had a moral obligation to “use this report to launch a comprehensive investigation into the government’s crimes against humanity. Chinese”.

Among the strongest reactions, that of Germany appears to be one of the most significant. The German Foreign Ministry has judged “that there is cause for concern at the highest point”, in a press release. “All those arbitrarily detained must be released immediately,” Berlin added, calling on Beijing “to immediately grant all people of Xinjiang the full exercise of their human rights” and “allow a new independent investigation into these allegations of serious violations. human rights in China”.

China lambasted the publication of the UN report on the Uyghurs, bluntly accusing the United Nations of lies orchestrated under pressure from Western countries: “The OHCHR created this report from scratch, relying on the political conspiracy of some anti-China forces overseas. This is a serious violation of the responsibilities of OHCHR, the principles of universality, non-selectivity, objectivity and non-politicization. This proves once again that the OHCHR has become the henchman and accomplice of the United States and the West to punish (…) developing countries”, declared in a press conference Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Chinese foreign affairs.

The Uyghurs are a Muslim minority settled in the northwest of China, Xinjiang, explains The cross. The 11 million Uyghurs are a Turkic Sunni ethnic group. The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region is the largest Chinese administrative unit, the region was invaded by China in the 18th century. However, at the end of the 19th century, independence revolts led to the proclamation of an “Islamic Republic of Eastern Turkestan”. In 1949, with the rise to power of the Communists, the Uyghurs were victims of economic, cultural and demographic discrimination. These have continued to grow. Thus, at the end of 2020, human rights associations denounced a policy of forced assimilation and the severe repression of Uyghur culture and religion. In addition, Amnesty International claimed that more than a million Uyghurs were detained in political re-education centers, in which they sometimes worked for the subcontractors of major Western brands.

The report published by the UN was therefore eagerly awaited by NGOs, but also by the United States. For its part, China has done everything to prevent the publication of this document. She denounces a “farce” orchestrated by Westerners, indicates The world. Beijing assures that the internment camps in which the Uyghurs are locked up are “vocational training centers”, aimed at deradicalizing the population.