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The one-year anniversary of a damning UN report on Xinjiang stands as a grave reminder of the need to hold China to account for crimes against humanity amid a “woefully inadequate” response by the international community, Amnesty International said today.
On 31 August 2022, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released its long-awaited assessment on the human rights situation in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, finding that violations by the Chinese government against Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities – including torture and mass imprisonment in internment camps – “may constitute… crimes against humanity.”
“Rather than urgently acting on the report’s findings of serious violations of international law in China, the international community – including important components of the UN itself – has shied away from the kind of resolute steps needed to advance justice, truth and reparation for victims,” said Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for China, Sarah Brooks.
The UN report found that the “extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim groups … may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.” The report added that “the conditions remain in place for serious violations to continue and recur,” creating additional urgency for a prompt and effective effort to address the situation.
The anniversary of the report comes in the same week President Xi Jinping made a surprise visit to the Xinjiang city of Urumqi, in which he called on officials to strengthen curbs on “illegal religious activities”. Chinese authorities have repeatedly dismissed accusations of human rights violations in the region.
The one-year anniversary of the OHCHR report must be a call to action for the international community. The need for states, through the Human Rights Council, to establish an independent international mechanism to investigate crimes under international law and other serious human rights violations in Xinjiang is as urgent as ever. Families of those who have been arbitrarily detained, forcibly disappeared or mistreated want and deserve answers and accountability, not delays and compromises,” Brooks said.
Since 2017, there has been extensive documentation, including by the UN Special Procedures of China’s crackdown against Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, carried out under the guise of fighting terrorism. In 2021, a comprehensive report by Amnesty International demonstrated that the systematic state-organized mass imprisonment, torture and persecution perpetrated by Chinese authorities amounted to crimes against humanity.
Amnesty International’s Free Xinjiang Detainees campaign has, to date, profiled 126 individuals who are among the perhaps one million or more people who have been held in arbitrary detention in internment camps and prisons in Xinjiang since 2017.
www.amnesty.org
On 31 August 2022, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released its long-awaited assessment on the human rights situation in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, finding that violations by the Chinese government against Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities – including torture and mass imprisonment in internment camps – “may constitute… crimes against humanity.”
“Rather than urgently acting on the report’s findings of serious violations of international law in China, the international community – including important components of the UN itself – has shied away from the kind of resolute steps needed to advance justice, truth and reparation for victims,” said Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for China, Sarah Brooks.
The UN report found that the “extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim groups … may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.” The report added that “the conditions remain in place for serious violations to continue and recur,” creating additional urgency for a prompt and effective effort to address the situation.
The anniversary of the report comes in the same week President Xi Jinping made a surprise visit to the Xinjiang city of Urumqi, in which he called on officials to strengthen curbs on “illegal religious activities”. Chinese authorities have repeatedly dismissed accusations of human rights violations in the region.
The one-year anniversary of the OHCHR report must be a call to action for the international community. The need for states, through the Human Rights Council, to establish an independent international mechanism to investigate crimes under international law and other serious human rights violations in Xinjiang is as urgent as ever. Families of those who have been arbitrarily detained, forcibly disappeared or mistreated want and deserve answers and accountability, not delays and compromises,” Brooks said.
Since 2017, there has been extensive documentation, including by the UN Special Procedures of China’s crackdown against Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, carried out under the guise of fighting terrorism. In 2021, a comprehensive report by Amnesty International demonstrated that the systematic state-organized mass imprisonment, torture and persecution perpetrated by Chinese authorities amounted to crimes against humanity.
Amnesty International’s Free Xinjiang Detainees campaign has, to date, profiled 126 individuals who are among the perhaps one million or more people who have been held in arbitrary detention in internment camps and prisons in Xinjiang since 2017.
China: Anniversary of UN’s damning Xinjiang report must be ‘wake-up call’ to action
The one-year anniversary of a damning UN report on Xinjiang stands as a grave reminder of the need to hold China to account for crimes against humanity amid a “woefully inadequate” response by the international community, Amnesty International said today. On 31 August 2022, the UN Office of the...
www.amnesty.org
