China is considered to have committed serious and systematic violations. China has rejected all discussion on the subject.
50 countries have signed statement (you switch to another service), condemning China’s human rights violations in the Xinjiang region. Finland was one of the signatories of the statement, which was read on Monday in the discussion of the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly.
The signatory countries consider China to have committed serious and systematic human rights violations in Xinjiang.
– We are deeply concerned about the human rights situation in the People’s Republic of China, especially the ongoing human rights violations against Uighurs and other Muslim-majority minority groups in Xinjiang, the statement began.
The signatories include the United States, Britain, most EU countries, Ukraine, Australia, Japan, Turkey, Israel, Guatemala and Somalia. Canada’s representative read the statement during Monday’s debate.
According to human rights organizations, China has gathered more than a million people belonging to various minorities in camps, where people have been tortured, raped and forced to give up their own language and religion.
China has rejected the accusations and claimed that it is fighting terrorism in Xinjiang and developing the region.
The discussion on Xinjiang has not progressed in the UN
The statement calls on China to implement the recommendations of a report published by the UN Office of the High Representative for Human Rights (OHCHR) in August, such as releasing all arbitrarily detained persons and clarifying the fate of missing family members.
According to the OHCHR report, possible crimes against humanity have been committed in the Uighur regions of China. The report states that allegations of repeated torture and forced medical procedures against the Uyghur population in the Xinjiang region are credible.
– Such serious and systematic human rights violations cannot be justified by anti-terrorist activities, Monday’s statement says.
China dismissed the report as a “political tool” of the West and “a hodgepodge of false information.”
In October, China managed to avoid a discussion of the report in the UN Human Rights Council, when the council voted to cancel a motion to discuss the situation in Xinjiang. In a statement on Monday, the signatory countries expressed concern that China has not even agreed to discuss the content of the report.
The human rights organization Human Rights Watch appealed on Monday to the UN Human Rights Council to try again to start the discussion as soon as possible.