States are deeply concerned about continuing human rights violations against Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, the statement read Monday by Canada.
The statement was made before the Human Rights Committee on Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Affairs of the UN General Assembly. In addition to Switzerland, the signatory states are Germany, France, Austria, the USA, Great Britain, Israel, Japan, Ukraine and Turkey.
The serious and systematic violations of human rights cannot be justified by counter-terrorism. Citing a report released in August by then-UN Human Rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet, states are concerned that China has so far refused to discuss the Bachelet report’s findings.
The report, released in late August shortly before the end of her term in office, denounces gross human rights violations in the Xinjiang region and sees evidence of crimes against humanity. There are also credible allegations of torture. China regularly dismisses all accusations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang – and claims to fight “terrorism” in the province.
The signatory states of the declaration now read have called on Beijing to implement the recommendations of the UN report. This included swift steps to release all those arbitrarily detained in Xinjiang and to clarify the fate and whereabouts of missing relatives.
In early October, the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva rejected a debate requested by Western countries about the situation in China’s Xinjiang province.
The human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) has now called on the panel to make another attempt. Diplomatic pressure on Beijing to account for “human rights violations” in Xinjiang is mounting, HRW director in charge of the UN, Louis Charbonneau, said Monday.
(SDA)