Twenty-two countries have attacked China in an unusual way at the meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva: In a letter to the President of the Council, they call on China to end mass arrests and surveillance of minorities in Xinjiang province in western China.
„We call on China to uphold its national laws and international commitments and to uphold human rights and fundamental freedoms, including religious freedom, in Xinjiang and throughout China,“ the letter said today.
Germany also signed
In addition to Austria, diplomats from Australia, Japan, France, Germany and Switzerland have also signed. The procedure is unusual: Normally, countries bring in resolutions that Council members discuss and vote on. Because of the feared Chinese protests have chosen a different path, they said.
China rejected allegations
China had rejected allegations of mass internment of members of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang at the beginning of the session of the UN Human Rights Council at the end of June. The authorities put people under religious extremism back on track, provincial vice governor Aierken Tuniyazi said.
The human rights organization Human Rights Watch estimates that one million people in Xinjiang are in reeducation camps, most of them Uighurs. They are ethnically related to the Turks. There have been bloody incidents in Xinjiang for years. Uighurs and many other minorities feel oppressed and exploited by the ruling Han Chinese. The government accuses Uighur groups of separatism.
„This joint statement shows that Beijing is wrong in saying it can escape the scrutinizing international views on the mistreatment in Xinjiang,“ said Human Rights Watch’s Geneva office director Jonathan Fisher.
