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| Photo Credit: AP. |
BEIJING (AP) — The U.N. accused China of serious human rights violations that may amount to “crimes against humanity” in a long-delayed report examining a crackdown on Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups. Beijing on Thursday denounced the assessment as a fabrication cooked up by Western nations.
Human rights
groups have accused China of sweeping a million or more people from the
minority groups into detention camps where many have said they were tortured,
sexually assaulted, and forced to abandon their language and religion. The
camps were just one part of what the rights organizations have called a
ruthless campaign against extremism in the far western province of Xinjiang
that also included draconian birth control policies and all-encompassing
restrictions on people’s movement.
The
assessment from the Geneva-based U.N. human rights office was released in the
final minutes of High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet’s
four-year term. It largely corroborated earlier reporting by researchers,
advocacy groups and the news media, and it added the weight of the world body
to the conclusions. But it was not clear what impact it would have.
Still, among
Uyghurs who have fled overseas, there was a palpable sense of relief that the
report had finally seen the light of day since many worried that it would never
be published. Several saw it as a vindication of their cause and of years of advocacy
work.
“The report is pretty damning, and a strong
indictment on China’s crimes against humanity,” said Rayhan Asat, a Uyghur
lawyer whose brother is imprisoned in Xinjiang. “It’s a really long-awaited recognition
of the Uyghurs and their unimaginable suffering, coming from the world’s most
authoritative voice on human rights.”
Human rights
groups, the U.S., Japan and European governments also welcomed the report. It
had become caught up in a tug-of-war between China and major Western nations as
well as human rights groups that have criticized the repeated delays in
releasing the document. Many Geneva diplomats believe it was nearly complete a
year ago.
The
assessment released late Wednesday concluded that China has committed serious
human rights violations under its anti-terrorism and anti-extremism policies
and calls for “urgent attention” from the U.N., the world community and China
itself to address them.
Human rights
groups renewed calls for the U.N. Human Rights Council, which meets next month,
to set up an independent international body to investigate the allegations. But
China showed no sign of backing off its blanket denials or portraying the
criticism as a politicized smear campaign.
“The
assessment is a patchwork of false information that serves as political tools
for the U.S. and other Western countries to strategically use Xinjiang to
contain China,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said. “It again shows
that the U.N. Human Rights Office has been reduced to an enforcer and
accomplice of the U.S. and other Western countries.”
In a sign of
China’s fury, it issued a 122-page rebuttal, entitled “Fight against Terrorism
and Extremism in Xinjiang: Truth and Facts,” that was posted by the U.N. along
with the report.
The U.N.
findings were drawn in part from interviews with more than two dozen former
detainees and others familiar with conditions at eight detention centers. They
described being beaten with batons, interrogated while water was poured on
their faces and forced to sit motionless on smalls stools for long periods.
Some said
they were prevented from praying — and were made to take shifts through the
night to ensure their fellow detainees were not praying or breaking other
rules. Women told of being forced to perform oral sex on guards or undergo
gynecological exams in front of large groups of people.
The report
said that descriptions of the detentions were marked by patterns of torture and
other cruel and inhumane treatment and that allegations of rape and other sexual
violence appeared “credible.”
“The extent
of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uyghur and other
predominantly Muslim groups ... in (the) context of restrictions and
deprivation more generally of fundamental rights ... may constitute
international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity,” the report said.
It made no
mention of genocide, which some countries, including the United States, have
accused China of committing in Xinjiang.
U.S.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed the report, saying in a statement
that it “deepens and reaffirms our grave concern.” He added: “We will continue
to work closely with our partners, civil society, and the international
community to seek justice and accountability for the many victims.”
The rights
office said it could not confirm estimates that a million or more people were
detained in the internment camps in Xinjiang, but added it was “reasonable to
conclude that a pattern of large-scale arbitrary detention occurred” at least
between 2017 and 2019.
U.N.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres believes the assessment “clearly identifies
serious human rights violations in the Xinjiang region,” U.N. spokesman
Stephane Dujarric said Thursday. He said the U.N. chief “very much hopes” China
will follow recommendations in the assessment.
Beijing has
closed many of the camps, which it called vocational training and education
centers, but hundreds of thousands of people continue to languish in prison,
many on vague, secret charges.
The report
called on China to release all individuals arbitrarily detained and to clarify
the whereabouts of those who have disappeared and whose families are seeking
information about them.
“Japan is
highly concerned about human rights conditions in Xinjiang, and we believe that
it is important that universal values such as freedom, basic human rights and
rule of law are also guaranteed in China,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu
Matsuno said.
Germany and
Britain also welcomed its publication.
British
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who is also the frontrunner in the contest to
replace Boris Johnson as prime minister, noted that the report “includes
harrowing evidence, including first-hand accounts from victims, that shames
China in the eyes of the international community.”
Human Rights
Watch said the report laid a solid foundation for further U.N. action to
establish accountability for the abuses.
“Never has
it been so important for the U.N. system to stand up to Beijing, and to stand
with victims,” said John Fisher, the deputy director of global advocacy for the
group.
Rahima
Mahmut, U.K. director of the World Uyghur Congress, said she was relieved the
report is finally out -- but had no hope it would change the Chinese
government’s behavior and called on the international community to send a
signal to Beijing that “business cannot be as usual.”
That the
report was released was in some ways as important as its contents.
Outgoing
rights chief Bachelet said she had to resist pressure both to publish and not
publish. She had announced in June that the report would be released by end of
her four-year term on Aug. 31, triggering a swell in back-channel campaigns —
including letters from civil society, civilians and governments on both sides
of the issue.
Why she
waited until the last minute to release the report remains unclear.
Critics had
said a failure to publish the report would have been a glaring black mark on
her tenure.
“The
inexcusable delay in releasing this report casts a stain” on the record of the
U.N. human rights office, said Agnès Callamard, the secretary-general of
Amnesty International, “but this should not deflect from its significance.”
Keaten
reported from Geneva. Associated Press journalists Dake Kang in Beijing, Mari
Yamaguchi in Tokyo, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, and Sylvia Hui in
London contributed to this report.