The United Nations Human Rights Office has said that discriminatory detention of Muslim groups in Xinjiang may constitute crimes against humanity. This is what emerges from the report published by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet. The expected document cited “credible evidence” of torture and sexual violence against the Uyghur minority and called on the international community to act. “The extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of the Uyghur community and other Muslim-majority groups may amount to international crimes, particularly crimes against humanity,” the report reads.
Xinjiang prison, ten thousand Uyghurs jailed in a single county: it is the highest rate of inmates in the world
by our correspondent Gianluca Modolo
Michelle Bachelet, who arrived at the last day of her mandate, kept her promise at the last minute to publish the report contested by Beijing, which considers it “a farce” orchestrated by the West, with Washington in the lead. For her part, Bachelet – accused of being too lenient towards Beijing – replied that dialogue with the Chinese authorities, as she did in particular during a controversial trip to China in May, “does not mean closing one’s eyes”. facing violations.
“I’ll tell you about the Chinese concentration camps. I’ve been there”
di Maximilian Kalkhof
Xinjiang, like other provinces in China, has been hit for several decades, and in particular from 2009 to 2014, by attacks attributed to Uighur Islamists or separatists. The region has been under intense surveillance for several years: omnipresent cameras, security gates in buildings, armed forces clearly visible in the streets, restrictions on the issuance of passports. In recent years, accusations have emerged in Beijing of having interned at least one million people, mostly Uighurs, in re-education camps, but also of carrying out “forced” sterilization and abortion or of imposing “forced labor”.
China denies these allegations. Beijing also presents the “camps” as “vocational training centers” intended to keep the inhabitants away from religious extremism, and which would now be closed because all the “students” would “complete their training”.
Chinese abuses on Uyghurs: “Shoot them on sight”
by our correspondent Gianluca Modolo
Although the document does not seem to contain any revelations with respect to what was already known about the situation in Xinjiang, its publication is considered important because the accusations in Beijing this time bear the UN seal. “Allegations of recurrent practices of torture or ill-treatment, including forced medical treatment and poor prison conditions, are credible, as are individual allegations of sexual and gender-based violence,” the report reads. “Better late than never. This moment will be decisive,” said Sophie Richardson, director of the NGO Human Rights Watch for China.
China, new “leaks” show that the squeeze on the Uighurs was planned by the leaders of the CCP
by our correspondent Gianluca Modolo
Speaking before the publication of the document, the activist anticipated that its contents would prove “that no state is above the law”. More than the content, it is existence and publication that are important, according to Richardson, because they will force the UN Human Rights Council to take the case. On the other hand, China continued to repeat its negative views on the document. The Chinese ambassador to the UN, Zhang Jun, reiterated “that he is firmly opposed to the report”. “The so-called Xinjiang problem is a totally fabricated and politically motivated lie” that is holding back China’s development, he said, accusing Bachelet of “interfering in China’s internal affairs”.