Advertisement

Updated September 1st, 2022 at 08:12 IST

China fumes at UN report on crimes against Uyghurs; dismisses it as 'fabricated'

China, on Wednesday, rejected the report published by the UN Human right group on its discriminatory detention of Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups.

Reported by: Ajeet Kumar
China
Image: AP | Image:self
Advertisement

China has rejected the report published by the UN Human right group on Beijing's discriminatory detention of Uyghurs and other minority Muslim ethnic groups in the remote western region of Xinjiang. The 45-page UN report, which was released on Wednesday after it landed into several controversies, found serious rights violations and patterns of torture meted out by the Chinese government in recent years. The report sought urgent attention from the United Nations and the world community to rights violations in Beijing’s campaign to root out terrorism.

However, China fumed at the findings and said the UN Office ignored human rights 'achievements' made by people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang. It dubbed the report "fabricated" and based on the "presumption of guilt". Denouncing the UN findings, China also charged Western bodies with interfering in Beijing's internal affairs.

"Based on the disinformation and lies fabricated by anti-China forces and out of the presumption of guilt, the so-called ‘assessment’ distorts China’s laws, wantonly smears and slanders China, and interferes in China’s internal affairs," China’s diplomatic mission in Geneva issued a letter in response to the UN report.

UN report uncovers China's 'crimes against humanity'

Notably, the much-awaited report came nearly three months after United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet faced massive criticism for her last trip to Beijing, where she held a few meetings with Chinese officials. As per the allegations levelled by some human rights experts, Bachelet failed to address the issue of China’s treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in western Xinjiang-- a claim that she denied multiple times. 

However, Bachelet acknowledged that she received pressure from both sides to publish — or not publish — the report. "I said that I would publish it before my mandate ended and I have," she said after the report was published minutes before her term ended.

It should be noted that the 45-page report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) concluded: “The extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim groups, pursuant to law and policy, in context of restrictions and deprivation more generally of fundamental rights enjoyed individually and collectively, may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.”

China urges UN to investigate the allegations

Meanwhile, China director at Human Rights Watch, Sophie Richardson, termed the report damning and added it was the main reason for the Chinese government to not let the UN body publish the report.  "Damning findings explain why the Chinese government fought tooth and nail to prevent the publication of her Xinjiang report, which lays bare China’s sweeping rights abuses," he said. Further, Richardson appealed to the 47-member Human Rights Council, whose next session is in September, to investigate the allegations and hold those responsible to account.

Image: AP

Advertisement

Published September 1st, 2022 at 08:00 IST

Your Voice. Now Direct.

Send us your views, we’ll publish them. This section is moderated.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Whatsapp logo