The United Nations human rights office released a report this week finding that Beijing has seriously violated the rights of ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region, including possible crimes against humanity.
Authorities found “credible” allegations of patterns of torture of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities detained in government facilities. They called on China to release “all individuals arbitrarily deprived of their liberty” in Xinjiang, and ensure families of those detained have contact with their loved ones.
Why We Wrote This
The release of the U.N.’s long-awaited report on human rights abuses in Xinjiang not only offers victims a chance for justice, but also reveals the limits of China’s increased influence.
Experts say the long-awaited assessment marks a forceful stand against China’s efforts to reshape the global rights agenda, and offers other countries guidance on taking a position on Xinjiang.
Researchers, scholars, and activists, as well as former detainees and the Uyghur diaspora, welcomed the report for corroborating their years of work to expose the human rights violations in Muslim-majority territory. For many victims, it marks the first step toward justice.
“We waited so long for the truth to be recognized,” says Rushan Abbas, a Uyghur American activist whose sister is detained in Xinjiang.
The United Nations human rights office took a forceful stand this week against China’s efforts to reshape the global rights agenda, experts say, by releasing a report that finds Beijing has seriously violated the rights of ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region, including possible crimes against humanity.
The report by the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) found “large-scale arbitrary deprivation of liberty of members of the Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim communities” and “credible” allegations of patterns of torture of detainees confined in government facilities.
The long-awaited OHCHR assessment on Xinjiang was released Wednesday despite intense efforts by China, a powerful U.N. member, to suppress it.
Why We Wrote This
The release of the U.N.’s long-awaited report on human rights abuses in Xinjiang not only offers victims a chance for justice, but also reveals the limits of China’s increased influence.
China has in recent years increasingly advanced its own, state-centric rights model that prioritizes security, economic development, and a strong, sovereign state. Instead, the call by the world’s leading human rights authority for China to comply with international rights law represents a staunch defense of universal principles focused on protecting individual rights.
Beijing “wants to push other nations to adopt a different framing of human rights, one that would align with their values. And this report pushes back against that in a pretty strong way,” says Darren Byler, assistant professor of international studies at Simon Fraser University, who has conducted extensive research on China’s treatment of the Uyghur population.
The U.N. statement offers other countries “some clarity and … an authoritative source to turn to” in taking a position on Xinjiang, he says.
Researchers, scholars, and activists focused on Xinjiang, as well as former detainees and the Uyghur diaspora, welcomed the report for corroborating their years of work to expose the human rights violations. For many victims, it marks the first step toward justice.
“We waited so long for the truth to be recognized,” says Rushan Abbas, a Uyghur American activist who’s been outspoken about her own relatives’ disappearances in Xinjiang.
Ms. Abbas, the founder and executive director of the Washington-based Campaign for Uyghurs, says she hopes the report will lead to concrete actions not only by the U.N., but also by countries that so far have remained silent on Xinjiang, including Muslim-majority nations.