Over the past few years there has been a global outcry for the international community and governing bodies to acknowledge and condemn the injustice faced by Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim communities in Xinjiang, China.
The UN’s official assessment of China’s violations in Xinjiang was released yesterday, in a long-anticipated report from the UN Human Rights Office, just 13 minutes before Michelle Bachelet stepped down from her post as High Commissioner.
The long-awaited report’s release moments before her departure concludes her four-year-long battle with the Chinese Government to uncover the truth of the atrocities committed in Xinjiang.
As my time as High Commissioner draws to an end, I call on everyone – States, companies, civil society – to stand with the countless people around the world who defend human rights.
They protect us. We have to protect them.
And count on @UNHumanRights to continue supporting YOU pic.twitter.com/HQ3MJug4Wk
— Michelle Bachelet (@mbachelet) August 31, 2022
The report outlines China’s severe human rights violations against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the region, and indicates that the extreme nature of these violations may be considered “crimes against humanity.”
The UN Human Rights Office has now appealed to the international community to help provide humanitarian assistance and protect the human rights of victims in Xinjiang, as well as to refrain from re-patriating Uyghur and other Muslim minorities back to China.
Through an extensive account of victim interviews, site visits, satellite images and publicly sourced research, the UN report exposes a spectrum of severe “violations of international norms and standards” committed by Chinese authorities against imprisoned Uyghurs in the region, which they state have “transcended borders, separating families and severing human contacts.”
Detailed reports of slavery, torture, sexual violence, and forced labour reveal the government’s violation of not only victims’ human rights, but also of a multitude of international laws and human rights treaties, all of which China is a state party to.
The Chinese government has claimed the measures taken are in alignment with national anti-extremism policies to counter “violent terrorism and separatism.”
The UN, however, has defined China’s actions as “broader discrimination” founded on “perceived security threats” like “resisting government propaganda,” “refusing to watch normal movies and TV networks,” or “being ‘young and middle-aged men with a big beard,’” among many other non-sensical “primary expressions of extremification.”
“These human rights violations, as documented in this assessment, flow from a domestic ‘anti-terrorism law system’ that is deeply problematic from the perspective of international human rights norms and standards,” states the report.
For the Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim communities in Xinjiang and overseas, this is a long-overdue acknowledgment of the cruel mistreatment and inhuman discrimination they have faced at the hands of the Chinese Government.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) was first alerted to the misconduct of the Chinese authorities in Xinjiang in late 2017, when they received a multitude of reports of Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other minorities disappearing from their homes and communities.
Since then, the High Commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, has received criticism for her slow and reserved handling of the investigation.
Over the years, rights and activist groups have accused Bachelet of inaction, despite substantial allegations surfacing of severe ill-treatment and forced labor, and the exposure of the unlawful use of “re-education” camps for “arbitrary detention on a broad scale.”
The timing of the release of this report ahead of Bachelet’s departure alludes to the pressure the UN Human Rights Office could have been under from the Chinese Government to not release the report.
From 2017 to now, the Chinese authorities continue to deny allegations of wrongdoing, with relentless attempts to prevent Bachelet from releasing the report.
Despite the UN offering to support China to implement recommended strategies addressing the concerns raised, the Chinese Government has opposed the report both vocally and in writing.
In a detailed state response that labels the assessment’s findings as “disinformation and lies fabricated by anti-China forces,” the Government says the UN report “smears and slanders China.”
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On the day of its release, a representative of China’s foreign ministry also called the assessment a “farce orchestrated by the United States and a small number of Western powers.”
The Government’s 131-page response also pushes back against the UN’s accusations of human rights violations by stating that China is “pursuing a people-centered approach” that “upholds that living a happy life is the primary human right.” The Government statement fails to provide further details on what constitutes said “happy life.”
The UN report also reveals details of the State’s reported intimidation of victims who have spoken publicly about their mistreatment, as well as the threats made to former detainees.
Some have said they were “forced to sign a document ahead of their release, pledging not to speak about their experience,” otherwise they were told they would be “kept for longer” and that there would be “punishment for the whole family.”
Dolkun Isa, the president of the World Uyghur Congress, states that the release of this report “paves the way for meaningful and tangible action by member states, UN bodies and the business community.”
Activists said they hoped a U.N report accusing China of serious human rights violations in the Xinjiang region would bring attention to an issue that has been eclipsed by the coronavirus pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. https://t.co/cZzYWthl9w
— New York Times World (@nytimesworld) September 1, 2022
The UN has expressed gratitude to the non-governmental organizations, academics, and journalists who contributed significantly to the research efforts of the investigation, as well as to the victims and witnesses who, despite the risks, provided their accounts that proved vital in compiling the report on China’s violations.
The China director for Human Rights Watch, Sophie Richardson, has commended the UN report, saying it is “an unprecedented challenge to Beijing’s lies and horrific treatment of Uyghurs.”
“The high commissioner’s 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,” Richardson added.
However, some activist groups are disappointed with the strength of terminology used in the report, and have spoken out about the lack of the word “genocide” in defining China’s actions.
“In a final insult to Uyghur survivors, the report fails to mention the word genocide a single time,” said Rahima Mahmut, director of the UK-based campaign “Stop Uyghur Genocide.”
Our Director @MahmutRahima's statement on the UN's report on the atrocities taking place in her homeland.
The UK must ensure all links to atrocities detailed in the report are severed.
"The int'l community can no longer claim ignorance; failure to act now is wilful complicity." pic.twitter.com/arHWMkaRIk
— Stop Uyghur Genocide (@UyghurStop) September 1, 2022
This report marks the end of the UN’s four-year-long attempt to expose the Chinese Government’s “crimes against humanity” in their mistreatment of the Muslim communities in Xinjiang. But it also sparks the beginning of an international call to action for the United Nations, intergovernmental bodies, and worldwide community to end the suffering and “deprivation of liberty” the Chinese Government is imposing on ethnic minorities in the region.
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Correction: This article has been amended since publication to correct an error in a quote from the Chinese Government’s response statement.
Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here by the authors are their own, not those of Impakter.com — In the Featured Photo: An Uyghur woman in front of Chinese forces. Featured Photo Credit: Uyghur East Turkistan.
