Dozens of international locations raised consciousness about China’s remedy of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang at a gathering at the United Nations on Wednesday, angering Beijing, which had lobbied member states to steer clear of what it described as an anti-China occasion.
“We will preserve standing up and talking out till China’s authorities stops its crimes in opposition to humanity and the genocide of Uyghurs and different minorities in Xinjiang,” US Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the virtual event.
Western states and rights groups accuse Xinjiang authorities of detaining and torturing Uyghurs and other minorities in camps. Beijing denies the accusations and describes the camps as vocational training facilities to combat religious extremism.
“In Xinjiang, people are being tortured. Women are being forcibly sterilized,” Thomas-Greenfield stated.
Amnesty International secretary common Agnes Callamard informed the occasion there was an estimated 1 million Uyghurs and predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities who’ve been arbitrarily detained.
In a word to U.N. member states final week, China’s U.N. mission rejected the accusations as “lies and false allegations” and accused the organizers of being “obsessed with provoking confrontation with China.” China urged international locations “NOT to take part in this anti-China occasion.”
The event was organized by Germany, the United States and Britain and co-sponsored by Canada, Australia, New Zealand and several other European nations. Germany’s U.N. Ambassador Christoph Heusgen said countries who sponsored the event faced “massive Chinese threats,” however didn’t elaborate.
British U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward described the state of affairs in Xinjiang as “one of the worst human rights crises of our time,” adding: “The evidence … points to a program of repression of specific ethnic groups.”
She referred to as for China to permit “quick, significant and unfettered entry” to U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet.
Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth called out Bachelet for not joining the event. A spokesperson for Bachelet did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“I’m sure she’s busy. You know we all are. But I have a similar global mandate to defend human rights and I couldn’t think of anything more important to do than to join you here today,” Roth informed the occasion.
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