(Photo : China Photos/Getty Images)
According to the UN Human Rights Office, China's treatment of the Uyghur community "may constitute crimes against humanity."
The UN human rights office stated in a long-awaited report released on Wednesday that China's discriminatory detention of Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups in the western region of Xinjiang may constitute crimes against humanity. The report cited serious rights violations and patterns of torture applied in recent years.
The study demands a swift international reaction to claims of torture and other human rights abuses in Beijing's fight against terrorism.
UN: China Committed Human Rights Violations
Michelle Bachelet, the head of the UN human rights office, defied repeated requests from the Chinese government to withhold the report that followed her own meticulously planned trip to Xinjiang in May. She was under pressure from both sides of the argument.
Beijing claims that the report is a component of a Western effort to damage China's reputation. The study has sparked a diplomatic power struggle between China and the West over the rights of the native Uyghurs and other primarily Muslim ethnic groups in the area.
The UN and Western officials who read the report Only minutes remained in Bachelet's four-year term when the document, according to officials, was published after being nearly ready for months. Beyond broad conclusions from independent advocacy groups and journalists that have long recorded concerns regarding human rights in Xinjiang, it was unexpected to make major new ground.
The United Nations and the countries that make up its membership, however, have given their approval to the office's report. In the months leading up to its publication, a discussion about China's power in the global organization and the intermittent diplomatic ice between Beijing and the West over human rights, among other thorny issues, were stoked.
According to the 48-page study, severe human rights violations against Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim communities were committed in Xinjiang between 2017 and 2019 as a result of China's counterterrorism and extremism measures.
The report refers to patterns of torture in what Beijing dubbed vocational centers, which were allegedly a part of its strategy to spur regional economic growth. It also mentions credible claims of torture or other ill-treatment, including instances of sexual assault, as per Associated Press via MSN.
UN Releases Report in Xinjiang Despite China's Opposition
The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated at the Munich Security Conference in February that he has told the Chinese authorities they must fully respect human rights in Xinjiang and ensure that the religious and cultural identities of minorities are respected in addition to publicly supporting Michelle Bachelet's credible visit to China.
Since 2018, Bachelet has requested entry into Xinjiang to investigate reports of human rights violations. Her staff prepared its report while she awaited Beijing's invitation by reviewing and analyzing openly accessible official material, satellite images, and other open-source data.
When the high commissioner did visit Xinjiang in May, rights organizations condemned her for agreeing to Beijing's request that her trip not be construed as a probe. For the first time in 17 years, a sitting UN human rights chief visited China as part of her mission.
Along with other officials, Bachelet met in person with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and conducted a virtual meeting with President Xi Jinping. She spent two days in Kashgar and Urumqi, both in Xinjiang.
The secretary of the Chinese Communist Party of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the governor, and the vice governor in charge of public security were among the officials Bachelet claimed to have spoken with. She also went to the Kashgar Experimental School, a former facility for vocational education and training, and the Kashgar Prison.
Uyghurs made up fewer than 1% of China's population in 2010, according to the country's census, with a total population of slightly over 10 million. They make up the largest ethnic group in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, according to VOA News.
An estimated million Uyghurs and members of other ethnic groups have been imprisoned by the Chinese government in Xinjiang during the past five years in a system of prisons and camps that Beijing refers to as training centers but that former prisoners have described as cruel detention facilities.
Since then, Beijing has shut down many of the camps, but hundreds of thousands of people are still languishing in jail on nebulous, unproven charges. Some nations, notably the US, have charged Beijing with carrying out a genocide in Xinjiang, Global News reported.
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