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After months of waiting and a controversial visit to the region, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, has published her report on Beijing’s treatment of the Uyghur minority in Xinjiang.
With the correspondents Nerez Hernández, from Beijing, and Jérémie Lanche, from Geneva.
In a report of just under 50 pages published a few minutes before the departure of Michelle Bachelet from the position of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, possible crimes against humanity in the Chinese region of Xinjiang are denounced. The report does not provide any real revelations, but it puts the UN stamp on the old accusations against the Chinese authorities.
Also read: Uyghurs: Xinjiang, a strategic region for China
Torture and population control
Its conclusions are damning for Beijing, which is why the authorities have gone to great lengths to prevent its publication. “The extent of the arbitrary and discriminatory arrests of members of the Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim groups (…) may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity,” the report says in its conclusions.
The UN interviewed 40 witnesses or victims of abuses committed in Xinjiang. Of these, 26 were detained in re-education or “vocational training” camps, according to official Chinese terminology. The story they tell is the same: beatings, torture, forced drug treatment, sometimes rape. All this for months, and almost without being able to communicate with their families. And above all, for no apparent reason, except for the fact that they belong to an ethnic minority hated by the central government.
The report also mentions forced sterilizations and population control using facial recognition systems. These are, without a doubt, massive violations of human rights, says the UN, which cannot, however, quantify them.
“Time for Accountability”
The reactions were swift. While some NGOs lament that Michelle Bachelet waited so long before publishing the document, Human Rights Watch calls for the Human Rights Council to address it and launch a new investigation. Amnesty International also demands that the Council “establish an independent international mechanism to investigate” these crimes in Xinjiang.
“This report paves the way for serious and tangible action by member states, UN agencies and businesses,” said Dolkun Isa, president of the World Uyghur Congress, adding that “the time for accountability is now.”
Beijing denounces the report
At the UN, officials denounced the report as a smear against China. As usual, Beijing blocks information unfavorable to the government and deletes online discussions of Internet users.
This crisis comes at a delicate moment for Chinese President Xi Jinping, less than two months away from a pivotal congress, where for the first time a Chinese leader will assume his third term.
The accusation of crimes against the Uyghurs adds one more issue to the growing criticism of Beijing’s policies in the international community. Xinjiang is one of the red spots that cloud the politics of the Communist Party, like Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The strategy now goes through silence and the repetition of the official discourse that insists on the defamation against China by the international community to curb its growth.
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