“We continue to be gravely concerned about the human rights situation in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region,” Paul Bekkers, the Dutch ambassador to the UN in Geneva, told the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday.
Delivering a joint statement on behalf of 47 countries, Bekkers pointed to a number of “credible reports” indicating that more than one million Uighurs and other Muslim minorities have been arbitrarily detained. Beijing has admitted that there are camps but that they are “vocational skills training centres” and necessary to tackle “extremism”.
“There are reports of ongoing widespread surveillance, discrimination against Uighurs and other persons belonging to minorities,” he said.
The joint statement also voiced concern about “reports of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, forced sterilisation, sexual and gender-based violence, forced labour, and forced separation of children from their parents by authorities”.
The concerned countries, Bekkers said, “repeat our call on China to urgently address these concerns”, and to “end the arbitrary detention of Muslim Uighurs and persons belonging to other minorities”.
The group also called on Beijing to provide UN investigators and experts “meaningful and unfettered access” to independently observe the situation on the ground in Xinjiang.After months demanding “unfettered access” to Xinjiang, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet finally visited China last month – the first visit by a UN rights chief to the country in 17 years.
But she faced harsh criticism for not speaking up more forcefully against China’s alleged abuses prior to and during the trip, which is believed to have been heavily controlled by Chinese authorities.
In Tuesday’s joint statement, the countries asked for “more detailed observations, including on the restrictions the Chinese authorities imposed on the visit” by Bachelet.
‘Political manipulation’
China’s Ambassador Chen Xu reacted angrily to the joint statement, condemning the Netherlands and the other signatories for spreading what it said were “lies and rumours to attack China”.
“We categorically reject these allegations,” he said, accusing the countries behind the statement of “hypocrisy” and “attempts to engage in political manipulation”.He hailed Bachelet’s visit, insisting it had “enhanced her understanding of China’s path of human rights development”.
