The greatest value of the UN report on Xinjiang is that it was published at all. Now the ball is in the UN member countries’ court, writes foreign journalist Jenny Matikainen.
17:30•Updated 17:31
In the middle of the night there was news.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights released a long-awaited report in which China is said to have committed atrocities in Xinjiang province. It is telling that the world has been more surprised by the publication of the report than by the violence it describes.
This speaks first of all about China’s power.
The UN report confirms China’s systematic oppression of the Uyghur minority. The Chinese leadership tortures, forces medical procedures and commits sexual violence. Report (you switch to another service) according to China’s Uighur regions, serious human rights violations and possibly crimes against humanity have been committed.
All this has been known to the UN and its member countries for years. That’s thanks to the Uighurs who fled China, as well as researchers, human rights organizations and journalists.
China also knows that everyone knows – it simply doesn’t care.
According to China, the news and reports about Xinjiang are based on the imagination of the West. Its propaganda machine claims that the motive of the foreign powers is the desire to squat China. It thinks it’s a chase.
China itself says it is training Uyghurs to improve the minority’s position and eradicate terrorism from the province. It has resisted the publication of the report by all means.
After the report came out, China wrote to the UN in response. According to it, it is “disinformation and lies produced by anti-Chinese forces” that “distort Chinese laws and slander China”.
The UN report has been delayed with monthly sales. Because of this, instead of the content, the discussion has shifted to the person responsible for the report, the UN Human Rights Commissioner to Michelle Bachelet.
Bachelet has been criticized for not keeping the Uyghur issue on the UN’s radar enough. However, to the surprise of many, the report was published just moments before Bachelet’s term as human rights commissioner ended.
The report is straightforward, but its impact on the situation of the Uyghurs will probably be minimal. The report does not reveal anything new. The main task of the 48-page paper is to save even a part of the prestige of the international community.
Expert at the human rights organization Amnesty Anu Tuukkanen is not quite so cynical.
He thinks it is significant that the report talks about possible crimes against humanity.
– The next logical step would be to establish an investigation mechanism to hold China accountable. The value of the report is that it is the UN’s own. Now the member states should react to it, he says.
However, China has skillfully used its economic power in the world for decades. That’s why there are many countries standing next to it in the UN, which are hardly going to condemn China.
China has succeeded well in crisis communication. It has shifted the responsibility of obtaining evidence to others while using all its power to prevent the truth from being revealed.
It has been easy because China controls every corner of Xinjiang. Outside observers are not allowed in the province even in the bathroom without a shade.
Bachelet was criticized first for not traveling to Xinjiang and finally for agreeing to be an audience for the Chinese play. Bachelet’s task was basically impossible: traveling to the place can only provide evidence of a cover-up.
At the same time, China does what it accuses others of: communicating only propaganda, giving false names to things and being offended by all accusations. When the evidence says yes, China says no. The discussion has not gone beyond that.
The exact same tactic is used Vladimir Putin led by Russia in Ukraine.
Russian propaganda speaks of Ukrainians as Nazis, whose intentions the brave Russian army has set out to repel. Butša’s horrors (you move to another service) it claims as Western propaganda. Russian troops occupied the city and massacred civilians.
The oppression of the Uyghurs has not led to significant countermeasures by the leaders of European countries. Trade with China is booming.
Europe burned its keys with Russia. Now would be a good moment to wake up and act differently with China. Paper alone does not yet hold China accountable.