He denied an internal report mentioning human rights violations that could constitute crimes against humanity. Many Muslim nations rejected the motion to debate the content of the document. China carried out an effective pressure campaign. The UN system does not solve problems: it is a diplomatic bazaar.
Rome () – By just two votes, the UN Human Rights Council yesterday rejected a motion to open a debate on the treatment of Uyghurs and other Turkish-speaking minorities of Islamic faith in Chinese Xinjiang.
If we stick to the facts, the UN body denies its own report. This was published – after numerous postponements – by the office of the former Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, on August 31. For the former president of Chile, that was her last day in office. The document upholds the credibility of accusations by experts, humanitarian groups and international media that China commits crimes against humanity against Muslim minorities.
Among the abuses attributed to Beijing is that of having imprisoned almost two million citizens – mainly Uyghurs – in authentic concentration camps, where they are subjected to forced labor. The Chinese deny all the accusations, claiming that the Xinjiang camps are vocational training centers and projects to reduce poverty, fight terrorism and separatism.
The motion promoted by the United States and other Western countries -in addition to Turkey- proposed at least a debate on the matter and the content of the report and not the opening of an official investigation -at least, not for the moment.
19 countries voted against: Bolivia, Cameroon, China, Ivory Coast, Cuba, Eritrea, Gabon, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Mauritania, Namibia, Nepal, Pakistan, Qatar, Senegal, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Venezuela. Only 17 were in favor: Czech Republic, Germany, Finland, France, Honduras, Japan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Marshall Islands, Montenegro, Netherlands, Paraguay, Poland, South Korea, United Kingdom and United States. There were 11 abstentions, including India, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Ukraine.
The support for China on the part of several Muslim nations, fearful of seeing their political and commercial relations with Beijing deteriorate, is surprising. The decision could also have internal repercussions. By turning a deaf ear to what is happening in Xinjiang, these governments leave the field open to the propaganda of Islamic fundamentalists and terrorists, who set themselves up as defenders of the Uyghurs, even threatening the Chinese government.
An example of this is the Afghan branch of the Islamic State and its call to arms against Beijing. Perhaps the Kazakhs, who have been protesting in front of the Chinese consulate in Almaty for more than 600 days protesting their imprisoned relatives in Xinjiang, have taken note of this. The Tokaev government ignores their demands.
Erdogan’s Turkey – with the approval of Biden, for Turkish mediation in the war between Russians and Ukrainians – felt strong enough to propose the debate. And this, despite the fact that he is not a member of the Human Rights Council and, therefore, did not participate in the vote.
The Chinese carried out an effective pressure campaign, “warning” that discussions like the one in Xinjiang would turn into Western meddling in the internal affairs of developing countries.
A real debate should be opened on the usefulness of the entire UN system, which wastes the money of the taxpayers of the various Member States in the drafting of official documents that are not even discussed afterwards. The Crystal Palace does not seem capable of solving the problems: it seems more like a bazaar in which the big world players weave diplomatic networks to strengthen their position of power. The cases of Ukraine, North Korea, Iran and Xinjiang, to name only the most recent, are instructive.
