Dozens of nations expressed worry Tuesday over alleged human rights violations in China’s Xinjiang province, and requested that the UN human rights head release a long-delayed report on the situation there.
“We remain deeply worried about the human rights situation in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region,” Paul Bekkers, the Dutch ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, told the UN Human Rights Council, according to the South China Morning Post.
In a joint statement issued on behalf of 47 nations, he cited a number of “reliable claims” – strenuously denied by China – stating that over 1 million Uygurs and other Muslim minorities have been unlawfully arrested in the region.
“There have been indications of continued pervasive monitoring and discrimination against Uygurs and other minorities,” he added.
The joint statement also expressed concern about “claims of torture and other cruel, inhuman, or humiliating treatment or punishment, forced sterilisation, sexual and gender-based abuse, forced labor, and authorities’ forcible separation of children from their parents.”
He said the nations “reiterate our appeal on China to swiftly address these issues” and “stop the arbitrary arrest of Muslim Uygurs and other minorities.”
They also urged Beijing to grant UN investigators and experts “meaningful and unhindered access” to monitor the situation on the ground independently.
Last month, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet was granted permission to visit China, marking the first visit by a UN rights boss in 17 years.
She was chastised, however, for not speaking out more firmly against China’s alleged abuses before and during the trip, which was carefully monitored by Chinese authorities.
The nations requested “further comprehensive observations, especially on the limits imposed by the Chinese authorities on the visit” in a joint statement issued on Tuesday.
China’s envoy, Chen Xu, was enraged by the joint statement, accusing the Netherlands and other signatories of spreading “lies and falsehoods to undermine China.”
“We strongly refute these charges,” he added, criticizing the nations behind the declaration for their “hypocrisy” and “attempts at political manipulation.”
He praised Bachelet’s visit, saying it “enriched her awareness of China’s path of human rights growth.”
The UN Secretary-General has also been under increasing pressure to produce a long-delayed assessment on the human rights situation in Xinjiang, which diplomats claim has been in the works for months.
Bachelet, who announced on Monday that she will not run for re-election, promised that the report will be released before she leaves office on August 31.
The joint statement issued on Tuesday encouraged the report’s “rapid dissemination,” and asked Bachelet to offer “additional details on the timing.”
Meanwhile, Chen slammed the “hyped-up so-called study on Xinjiang,” noting that it was not mandated by the UN Human Rights Council and that it breached Bachelet’s authority and “should not be released at all.”
While a lengthy line of nations took the floor individually on Tuesday to reiterate the views expressed in the joint declaration, a number also came to China’s defense, with Belarus, Cuba, and North Korea also asking the report not be released.
Venezuela’s ambassador, Hector Constant, slammed “a prolonged campaign of fake news against Xinjiang and China.”