U.N. Agency Urges
China to Review Xinjiang Policies Tied to Rights Abuses
'Problematic
laws' remain, 2 years after report slamming Beijing's treatment of Uyghurs
·
The
repressive laws that underlie the mass imprisonment and arbitrary detention of Uyghurs
and other Turkic peoples remain in force.
·
China's
alleged treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, including forced sterilization, arbitrary
detention and mass surveillance, may constitute crimes against humanity.
Beijing
needs to fully review the "problematic laws and policies" in China's Xinjiang
region that have raised concerns of rights abuses, the United Nations Office of
the High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Tuesday (27.08.2024), four days before
the two-year anniversary of a critical report by the agency.
A
U.N. team that visited China two months ago discussed the country's criminal justice
system and policies that have sparked allegations of widespread human rights abuses
of Uyghurs and Tibetans, as well as the national security crackdown that has raised
rights concerns in Hong Kong, the office said.
"In
particular, on Xinjiang, we understand that many problematic laws and policies remain
in place, and we have called again on the authorities to undertake a full review,
from the human rights perspective, of the legal framework governing national security
and counterterrorism and to strengthen the protection of minorities against discrimination,"
Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the human rights office,
said in a statement.
"Allegations
of human rights violations, including torture, need to be fully investigated,"
the statement said.
The
statement also noted the human rights office continues to face challenges monitoring
the situation in China because of "limited access to information and the fear
of reprisals against individuals who engage with the United Nations."
Rights
groups accuse Beijing of detaining and abusing Uyghurs and other Turkic-Muslim ethnic
minorities in the country's northwestern region of Xinjiang,
including the mass use of forced labor and internment
camps. Beijing denies the allegations and describes the programs as intended to
combat terrorism.
Rayhan Asat, a human
rights lawyer at the Atlantic Council whose brother Ekpar
Asat disappeared in Xinjiang in 2016, praised U.N. rights
Commissioner Volker Turk for reaffirming his commitment.
"However,
as he rightly observed, the repressive laws that underlie the mass imprisonment
and arbitrary detention of Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples remain in force, with
little tangible progress achieved since his office's report," she said. Rayhan Asat recently published a Yale
University report on China's large-scale imprisonment of Uyghurs.
The
human rights office published a report in August 2022 concluding that China's alleged
treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, including forced sterilization, arbitrary detention
and mass surveillance, may constitute crimes against humanity. But in the wake of
Chinese pressure, the U.N. Human Rights Council members two months later narrowly
voted against even debating the report's contents.
Other
impartial U.N. expert committees also have published reviews alleging rights abuses.
A
United Nations review of China's human rights record conducted this year found an
increased rate of rejections by Beijing of recommendations from the 2022 report
and from U.N. bodies, as well as a reluctance to provide unfettered access to the
region.