China may have committed crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, UN says

In an extraordinary indictment of President Xi Jinping’s policies in Xinjiang, the UN human rights body said serious human rights violations have been committed in enforcement of China’s counterterrorism and counter-“extremism” strategies.

After dithering for more than a year over publishing its report on Xinjiang, the office of the UN human rights Commissioner said the extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim groups “may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.”

A Chinese statement called the entire report “completely a politicized document that disregards facts and reveals explicitly the attempt of some Western countries and anti-China forces to use human rights as a political tool.”

“The so-called “assessment” is purely a farce plotted by some Western countries and anti-China forces,” it added.

The report’s forceful nature caused some surprise because of the Commissioner’s well known hesitation to anger Xi. Unlike normal custom, the report was made public around midnight (CET) of August 31, 2022, minutes after the Commissioner Michelle Bachelet ended her tenure. She visited China and Xinjiang in May but her failure to openly denounce China for its treatment of the Uyghur people disappointed many Western human rights groups.

The forthright report said China’s anti-terrorism apparatus had led to the “large-scale arbitrary deprivation of liberty” of Uyghurs and other minorities in “vocational education and training centers” between at least 2017 and 2019. The system may have been reduced in scope since then but “the laws and policies that underpin it remain in place.”

The US, UK, Canada and others have made allegations of genocide against Beijing. Some consumer boycotts were followed in June by the US blocking imports of goods with components from Xinjiang, a big producer of cotton and polysilicon for solar panels.

President Joe Biden has made violation of human rights in Xinjiang a central plank of his tough approach to relations with Xi and this report coming from a specialized UN entity could provide grounds for a US-led European censure of Chinese policies.

The report pointed to broad discrimination against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities, including limitations on religious freedoms. Importantly, it reported “serious indications of violations of reproductive rights through the coercive and discriminatory enforcement of family planning and birth control policies”.

“Allegations of patterns of torture or ill-treatment, including forced medical treatment and adverse conditions of detention, are credible, as are allegations of individual incidents of sexual and gender-based violence,” it noted.

While the available information at this stage does not allow for firm conclusions about the extent of such abuses, constraints on Uyghurs an other Muslim minorities included “far-reaching, arbitrary and discriminatory restrictions on human rights and fundamental freedoms, in violation of international norms and standards”.

The report asked Beijing to take “prompt steps to release all individuals arbitrarily deprived of their liberty” and to urgently clarify the “whereabouts of individuals whose families have been seeking information about their loved ones.” It said details should be provided of their exact locations and safe channels of communication and travel be established to enable families to reunite.