The Chinese government, which had repeatedly opposed the release of the report, responded in a 131-page document — nearly three times the length of the report itself — in which it denounced the findings as “based on disinformation and lies manufactured by powers against China”. Beijing’s response was released by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) alongside its own report after China was given advance access to the document to review and respond. Separately on Thursday, a foreign ministry spokesman said China “rightly rejects” the report, which it called “invalid and illegal”. The spokesman also accused the Office of the High Commissioner of being “relegated to the role of assassin and accomplice of the US and the West in their efforts to control developing countries.” While the report was welcomed by some Uyghurs abroad and human rights activists, any move to further investigate — as called for in the report — would need approval by UN member states in a body where China wields significant influence. Action on other recommendations in the report, such as the release of arbitrarily detained people and the clarification of the whereabouts of missing persons, will depend on the cooperation of the Chinese government.
Inside Xinjiang
The report focuses on what it describes as “arbitrary detention and related patterns of abuse” in what Beijing claims are “vocational education and training centers” between 2017 and 2019. It concluded that descriptions of detention during this period were “marked by patterns of torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”. The report details findings from what the Office of the High Commissioner describes as years of efforts to analyze and evaluate public documents, open source and research materials. It also includes information gathered from interviews with 40 people of Uyghur, Kazakh and Kyrgyz nationalities. Twenty-six of the respondents reported that they had either been detained or worked in various facilities in Xinjiang. “The extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim groups … may constitute international crimes, particularly crimes against humanity,” according to the report. The UN report said China’s “counter-terrorism legal system” is “deeply problematic in terms of international human rights norms and standards” and “has in practice led to large-scale arbitrary deprivation of liberty” of Uyghurs and other Muslims. communities. While Beijing prevented the High Commissioner from conducting an on-site investigation, the report included descriptions from those who had experienced the so-called vocational and training centers in Xinjiang, in their own words. “They didn’t tell me what I was there for or how long I was going to be there. I was asked to confess to a crime, but I didn’t know what I was supposed to confess to,” said a person interviewed by the office, according to the report. The report also said that almost all interviewees described either injections, pills or both being given regularly, which made them feel drowsy, while some interviewees also spoke of “various forms of sexual violence”, including some cases of rape, as and for various forms of sexual humiliation, including forced nudity, according to the report. Allegations of sexual and gender-based violence “appear to be credible,” the report said, but it is not possible to “draw broader conclusions” about the extent to which they were part of general patterns within the facilities based on the available information. . “The government’s categorical denials of all allegations, as well as gendered and humiliating attacks on those who have come forward to share their experiences, have added to the humiliation and suffering of survivors,” the report said. The report said that while it could not confirm the number of detainees in the centres, a reasonable conclusion could be drawn from the available information that the number of people in the facilities, at least between 2017 and 2019, was “very significant, constituting a significant proportion of the Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities. This detention system, according to the report, also came in the “context of wider discrimination” against members of the Uyghurs and other mainly Muslim minorities based on “perceived security threats” from individual members of these groups. These include unjustified restrictions on religious identity and expression, as well as rights to privacy and movement. The report also points to “serious evidence” of violations of reproductive rights through the “coercive and discriminatory enforcement of family planning and birth control policies.” It also examined allegations of forced labor in the region, stating that employment programs for the purported purposes of poverty alleviation and the prevention of extremism, “may include elements of coercion and discrimination on religious and ethnic grounds.” In its response on Wednesday, Beijing said the report “distorts” China’s laws and policies. “All ethnic groups, including the Uyghurs, are equal members of the Chinese nation,” China’s response said. “Xinjiang has taken measures to combat terrorism and extremism in accordance with the law, effectively curbing frequent incidents of terrorist activities. Currently, Xinjiang enjoys social stability, economic development, cultural prosperity and religious harmony. People of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang is living a happy life with peace and contentment.” A separate statement from China’s UN mission in Geneva described the report as “a farce planned by the US, Western countries and anti-China forces,” adding that “the assessment is a political tool” and “a politicized document that ignores facts.”
What’s next
Over the past four years, the international community at the United Nations has done little about allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Countries at their main human rights body have not agreed to any formal calls for an investigation, while calls from UN experts on China to allow rights monitoring have been met with strong denials of wrongdoing from Beijing and no invitation for free access . themselves. This impasse at the United Nations has increased the attention and importance of the High Commissioner’s report to those who have sought to hold China to account in the international system. The report will not clarify the political challenges to advancing calls for a formal UN investigation, as China wields significant influence among UN member states. But rights campaigners said it should be a wake-up call for international action. Omer Kanat, executive director of the Uyghur Human Rights Program, called the report “a game changer for the international response to the Uyghur crisis.” “Despite the Chinese government’s persistent denials, the UN has now officially acknowledged that horrific crimes are taking place,” he said in a statement signed by a group of 60 Uyghur organizations from 20 countries. CNN’s Richard Roth and Caitlin Hu in New York, Jorge Engels in London and Nectar Gan in Hong Kong contributed to this report.
title: “Xinjiang Report Un Report Finds China May Have Committed Crimes Against Humanity Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-10-28” author: “Harvey Scott”
The Chinese government, which had repeatedly opposed the release of the report, responded in a 131-page document — nearly three times the length of the report itself — in which it denounced the findings as “based on disinformation and lies manufactured by powers against China”. Beijing’s response was released by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) alongside its own report after China was given advance access to the document to review and respond. Separately on Thursday, a foreign ministry spokesman said China “rightly rejects” the report, which it called “invalid and illegal”. The spokesman also accused the Office of the High Commissioner of being “relegated to the role of assassin and accomplice of the US and the West in their efforts to control developing countries.” While the report was welcomed by some Uyghurs abroad and human rights activists, any move to further investigate — as called for in the report — would need approval by UN member states in a body where China wields significant influence. Action on other recommendations in the report, such as the release of arbitrarily detained people and the clarification of the whereabouts of missing persons, will depend on the cooperation of the Chinese government.
Inside Xinjiang
The report focuses on what it describes as “arbitrary detention and related patterns of abuse” in what Beijing claims are “vocational education and training centers” between 2017 and 2019. It concluded that descriptions of detention during this period were “marked by patterns of torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”. The report details findings from what the Office of the High Commissioner describes as years of efforts to analyze and evaluate public documents, open source and research materials. It also includes information gathered from interviews with 40 people of Uyghur, Kazakh and Kyrgyz nationalities. Twenty-six of the respondents reported that they had either been detained or worked in various facilities in Xinjiang. “The extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim groups … may constitute international crimes, particularly crimes against humanity,” according to the report. The UN report said China’s “counter-terrorism legal system” is “deeply problematic in terms of international human rights norms and standards” and “has in practice led to large-scale arbitrary deprivation of liberty” of Uyghurs and other Muslims. communities. While Beijing prevented the High Commissioner from conducting an on-site investigation, the report included descriptions from those who had experienced the so-called vocational and training centers in Xinjiang, in their own words. “They didn’t tell me what I was there for or how long I was going to be there. I was asked to confess to a crime, but I didn’t know what I was supposed to confess to,” said a person interviewed by the office, according to the report. The report also said that almost all interviewees described either injections, pills or both being given regularly, which made them feel drowsy, while some interviewees also spoke of “various forms of sexual violence”, including some cases of rape, as and for various forms of sexual humiliation, including forced nudity, according to the report. Allegations of sexual and gender-based violence “appear to be credible,” the report said, but it is not possible to “draw broader conclusions” about the extent to which they were part of general patterns within the facilities based on the available information. . “The government’s categorical denials of all allegations, as well as gendered and humiliating attacks on those who have come forward to share their experiences, have added to the humiliation and suffering of survivors,” the report said. The report said that while it could not confirm the number of detainees in the centres, a reasonable conclusion could be drawn from the available information that the number of people in the facilities, at least between 2017 and 2019, was “very significant, constituting a significant proportion of the Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities. This detention system, according to the report, also came in the “context of wider discrimination” against members of the Uyghurs and other mainly Muslim minorities based on “perceived security threats” from individual members of these groups. These include unjustified restrictions on religious identity and expression, as well as rights to privacy and movement. The report also points to “serious evidence” of violations of reproductive rights through the “coercive and discriminatory enforcement of family planning and birth control policies.” It also examined allegations of forced labor in the region, stating that employment programs for the purported purposes of poverty alleviation and the prevention of extremism, “may include elements of coercion and discrimination on religious and ethnic grounds.” In its response on Wednesday, Beijing said the report “distorts” China’s laws and policies. “All ethnic groups, including the Uyghurs, are equal members of the Chinese nation,” China’s response said. “Xinjiang has taken measures to combat terrorism and extremism in accordance with the law, effectively curbing frequent incidents of terrorist activities. Currently, Xinjiang enjoys social stability, economic development, cultural prosperity and religious harmony. People of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang is living a happy life with peace and contentment.” A separate statement from China’s UN mission in Geneva described the report as “a farce planned by the US, Western countries and anti-China forces,” adding that “the assessment is a political tool” and “a politicized document that ignores facts.”
What’s next
Over the past four years, the international community at the United Nations has done little about allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Countries at their main human rights body have not agreed to any formal calls for an investigation, while calls from UN experts on China to allow rights monitoring have been met with strong denials of wrongdoing from Beijing and no invitation for free access . themselves. This impasse at the United Nations has increased the attention and importance of the High Commissioner’s report to those who have sought to hold China to account in the international system. The report will not clarify the political challenges to advancing calls for a formal UN investigation, as China wields significant influence among UN member states. But rights campaigners said it should be a wake-up call for international action. Omer Kanat, executive director of the Uyghur Human Rights Program, called the report “a game changer for the international response to the Uyghur crisis.” “Despite the Chinese government’s persistent denials, the UN has now officially acknowledged that horrific crimes are taking place,” he said in a statement signed by a group of 60 Uyghur organizations from 20 countries. CNN’s Richard Roth and Caitlin Hu in New York, Jorge Engels in London and Nectar Gan in Hong Kong contributed to this report.
title: “Xinjiang Report Un Report Finds China May Have Committed Crimes Against Humanity Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-28” author: “Jay Moon”
The Chinese government, which had repeatedly opposed the release of the report, responded in a 131-page document — nearly three times the length of the report itself — in which it denounced the findings as “based on disinformation and lies manufactured by powers against China”. Beijing’s response was released by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) alongside its own report after China was given advance access to the document to review and respond. Separately on Thursday, a foreign ministry spokesman said China “rightly rejects” the report, which it called “invalid and illegal”. The spokesman also accused the Office of the High Commissioner of being “relegated to the role of assassin and accomplice of the US and the West in their efforts to control developing countries.” While the report was welcomed by some Uyghurs abroad and human rights activists, any move to further investigate — as called for in the report — would need approval by UN member states in a body where China wields significant influence. Action on other recommendations in the report, such as the release of arbitrarily detained people and the clarification of the whereabouts of missing persons, will depend on the cooperation of the Chinese government.
Inside Xinjiang
The report focuses on what it describes as “arbitrary detention and related patterns of abuse” in what Beijing claims are “vocational education and training centers” between 2017 and 2019. It concluded that descriptions of detention during this period were “marked by patterns of torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”. The report details findings from what the Office of the High Commissioner describes as years of efforts to analyze and evaluate public documents, open source and research materials. It also includes information gathered from interviews with 40 people of Uyghur, Kazakh and Kyrgyz nationalities. Twenty-six of the respondents reported that they had either been detained or worked in various facilities in Xinjiang. “The extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim groups … may constitute international crimes, particularly crimes against humanity,” according to the report. The UN report said China’s “counter-terrorism legal system” is “deeply problematic in terms of international human rights norms and standards” and “has in practice led to large-scale arbitrary deprivation of liberty” of Uyghurs and other Muslims. communities. While Beijing prevented the High Commissioner from conducting an on-site investigation, the report included descriptions from those who had experienced the so-called vocational and training centers in Xinjiang, in their own words. “They didn’t tell me what I was there for or how long I was going to be there. I was asked to confess to a crime, but I didn’t know what I was supposed to confess to,” said a person interviewed by the office, according to the report. The report also said that almost all interviewees described either injections, pills or both being given regularly, which made them feel drowsy, while some interviewees also spoke of “various forms of sexual violence”, including some cases of rape, as and for various forms of sexual humiliation, including forced nudity, according to the report. Allegations of sexual and gender-based violence “appear to be credible,” the report said, but it is not possible to “draw broader conclusions” about the extent to which they were part of general patterns within the facilities based on the available information. . “The government’s categorical denials of all allegations, as well as gendered and humiliating attacks on those who have come forward to share their experiences, have added to the humiliation and suffering of survivors,” the report said. The report said that while it could not confirm the number of detainees in the centres, a reasonable conclusion could be drawn from the available information that the number of people in the facilities, at least between 2017 and 2019, was “very significant, constituting a significant proportion of the Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities. This detention system, according to the report, also came in the “context of wider discrimination” against members of the Uyghurs and other mainly Muslim minorities based on “perceived security threats” from individual members of these groups. These include unjustified restrictions on religious identity and expression, as well as rights to privacy and movement. The report also points to “serious evidence” of violations of reproductive rights through the “coercive and discriminatory enforcement of family planning and birth control policies.” It also examined allegations of forced labor in the region, stating that employment programs for the purported purposes of poverty alleviation and the prevention of extremism, “may include elements of coercion and discrimination on religious and ethnic grounds.” In its response on Wednesday, Beijing said the report “distorts” China’s laws and policies. “All ethnic groups, including the Uyghurs, are equal members of the Chinese nation,” China’s response said. “Xinjiang has taken measures to combat terrorism and extremism in accordance with the law, effectively curbing frequent incidents of terrorist activities. Currently, Xinjiang enjoys social stability, economic development, cultural prosperity and religious harmony. People of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang is living a happy life with peace and contentment.” A separate statement from China’s UN mission in Geneva described the report as “a farce planned by the US, Western countries and anti-China forces,” adding that “the assessment is a political tool” and “a politicized document that ignores facts.”
What’s next
Over the past four years, the international community at the United Nations has done little about allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Countries at their main human rights body have not agreed to any formal calls for an investigation, while calls from UN experts on China to allow rights monitoring have been met with strong denials of wrongdoing from Beijing and no invitation for free access . themselves. This impasse at the United Nations has increased the attention and importance of the High Commissioner’s report to those who have sought to hold China to account in the international system. The report will not clarify the political challenges to advancing calls for a formal UN investigation, as China wields significant influence among UN member states. But rights campaigners said it should be a wake-up call for international action. Omer Kanat, executive director of the Uyghur Human Rights Program, called the report “a game changer for the international response to the Uyghur crisis.” “Despite the Chinese government’s persistent denials, the UN has now officially acknowledged that horrific crimes are taking place,” he said in a statement signed by a group of 60 Uyghur organizations from 20 countries. CNN’s Richard Roth and Caitlin Hu in New York, Jorge Engels in London and Nectar Gan in Hong Kong contributed to this report.
title: “Xinjiang Report Un Report Finds China May Have Committed Crimes Against Humanity Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-26” author: “Christopher Boutwell”
The Chinese government, which had repeatedly opposed the release of the report, responded in a 131-page document — nearly three times the length of the report itself — in which it denounced the findings as “based on disinformation and lies manufactured by powers against China”. Beijing’s response was released by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) alongside its own report after China was given advance access to the document to review and respond. Separately on Thursday, a foreign ministry spokesman said China “rightly rejects” the report, which it called “invalid and illegal”. The spokesman also accused the Office of the High Commissioner of being “relegated to the role of assassin and accomplice of the US and the West in their efforts to control developing countries.” While the report was welcomed by some Uyghurs abroad and human rights activists, any move to further investigate — as called for in the report — would need approval by UN member states in a body where China wields significant influence. Action on other recommendations in the report, such as the release of arbitrarily detained people and the clarification of the whereabouts of missing persons, will depend on the cooperation of the Chinese government.
Inside Xinjiang
The report focuses on what it describes as “arbitrary detention and related patterns of abuse” in what Beijing claims are “vocational education and training centers” between 2017 and 2019. It concluded that descriptions of detention during this period were “marked by patterns of torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”. The report details findings from what the Office of the High Commissioner describes as years of efforts to analyze and evaluate public documents, open source and research materials. It also includes information gathered from interviews with 40 people of Uyghur, Kazakh and Kyrgyz nationalities. Twenty-six of the respondents reported that they had either been detained or worked in various facilities in Xinjiang. “The extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim groups … may constitute international crimes, particularly crimes against humanity,” according to the report. The UN report said China’s “counter-terrorism legal system” is “deeply problematic in terms of international human rights norms and standards” and “has in practice led to large-scale arbitrary deprivation of liberty” of Uyghurs and other Muslims. communities. While Beijing prevented the High Commissioner from conducting an on-site investigation, the report included descriptions from those who had experienced the so-called vocational and training centers in Xinjiang, in their own words. “They didn’t tell me what I was there for or how long I was going to be there. I was asked to confess to a crime, but I didn’t know what I was supposed to confess to,” said a person interviewed by the office, according to the report. The report also said that almost all interviewees described either injections, pills or both being given regularly, which made them feel drowsy, while some interviewees also spoke of “various forms of sexual violence”, including some cases of rape, as and for various forms of sexual humiliation, including forced nudity, according to the report. Allegations of sexual and gender-based violence “appear to be credible,” the report said, but it is not possible to “draw broader conclusions” about the extent to which they were part of general patterns within the facilities based on the available information. . “The government’s categorical denials of all allegations, as well as gendered and humiliating attacks on those who have come forward to share their experiences, have added to the humiliation and suffering of survivors,” the report said. The report said that while it could not confirm the number of detainees in the centres, a reasonable conclusion could be drawn from the available information that the number of people in the facilities, at least between 2017 and 2019, was “very significant, constituting a significant proportion of the Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities. This detention system, according to the report, also came in the “context of wider discrimination” against members of the Uyghurs and other mainly Muslim minorities based on “perceived security threats” from individual members of these groups. These include unjustified restrictions on religious identity and expression, as well as rights to privacy and movement. The report also points to “serious evidence” of violations of reproductive rights through the “coercive and discriminatory enforcement of family planning and birth control policies.” It also examined allegations of forced labor in the region, stating that employment programs for the purported purposes of poverty alleviation and the prevention of extremism, “may include elements of coercion and discrimination on religious and ethnic grounds.” In its response on Wednesday, Beijing said the report “distorts” China’s laws and policies. “All ethnic groups, including the Uyghurs, are equal members of the Chinese nation,” China’s response said. “Xinjiang has taken measures to combat terrorism and extremism in accordance with the law, effectively curbing frequent incidents of terrorist activities. Currently, Xinjiang enjoys social stability, economic development, cultural prosperity and religious harmony. People of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang is living a happy life with peace and contentment.” A separate statement from China’s UN mission in Geneva described the report as “a farce planned by the US, Western countries and anti-China forces,” adding that “the assessment is a political tool” and “a politicized document that ignores facts.”
What’s next
Over the past four years, the international community at the United Nations has done little about allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Countries at their main human rights body have not agreed to any formal calls for an investigation, while calls from UN experts on China to allow rights monitoring have been met with strong denials of wrongdoing from Beijing and no invitation for free access . themselves. This impasse at the United Nations has increased the attention and importance of the High Commissioner’s report to those who have sought to hold China to account in the international system. The report will not clarify the political challenges to advancing calls for a formal UN investigation, as China wields significant influence among UN member states. But rights campaigners said it should be a wake-up call for international action. Omer Kanat, executive director of the Uyghur Human Rights Program, called the report “a game changer for the international response to the Uyghur crisis.” “Despite the Chinese government’s persistent denials, the UN has now officially acknowledged that horrific crimes are taking place,” he said in a statement signed by a group of 60 Uyghur organizations from 20 countries. CNN’s Richard Roth and Caitlin Hu in New York, Jorge Engels in London and Nectar Gan in Hong Kong contributed to this report.
