Lies about Xinjiang can deceive no one in the world, said World Uyghur Congress (WUC), President Dolkun Isa, following the release of a UN report this week that confirms rights abuses in the northwest part of the country.
In a response to the report that shows the truth of the Chinese government’s atrocities, Beijing said the “so-called assessment” is an illegal document and a perverse product of the US and some other Western forces’ coercive diplomacy.
“Their lies about Xinjiang can deceive no one in the world and their attempt to contain China by disrupting Xinjiang is doomed to fail,” said Liu Yuyin, spokesperson of the Permanent Mission of China.
The Chinese Spokesperson dismissed the report, saying the assessment is an “illegal document through and through.”
“OHCHR drafted and released the so-called assessment without the mandate from the Human Rights Council or the consent of the Chinese Government, which is a serious violation of OHCHR’s mandate. The so-called assessment is based on the presumption of guilt,” said Liu.
“It takes the words of a few anti-China separatists as the main source of information, while deliberately ignoring the authoritative information and materials provided by the Chinese Government, and therefore has zero credibility,” he added.
Following the release of a report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), a group of 60 Uyghur organizations from 20 countries are calling for an immediate response to put an end to atrocities against Uyghurs.
The groundbreaking United Nations report published on August 31 says the Chinese government has committed abuses that may amount to crimes against humanity targeting Uyghurs and other Turkic communities in the Xinjiang region.
The report by the outgoing UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet contains victim accounts that substantiate mass arbitrary detention, torture, and other serious human rights violations and recommends world to take action to end the abuses.
WUC President, Dolkun Isa told Al Jazeera that, “This report shows the truth of the Chinese government’s atrocities. We call on the international community to take concrete action, and not delay this any longer.”
Earlier, World Uyghur Congress, in a statement, said Uyghurs are calling for seven concrete actions by governments, multilateral bodies, and corporations.
“This UN report is extremely important. It paves the way for meaningful and tangible action by member states, UN bodies, and the business community,” said World Uyghur Congress President Dolkun Isa. “Accountability starts now.”
“This is a game-changer for the international response to the Uyghur crisis,” said Uyghur Human Rights Project Executive Director Omer Kanat. “Despite the Chinese government’s strenuous denials, the UN has now officially recognized that horrific crimes are occurring.”
The report offers the most definitive assessment of the issues faced by Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples from the world’s leading human rights body. Most notably, it finds that “arbitrary and discriminatory detention” of Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples, within the context of other restrictions, “may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.”
The report also notes that the human rights abuses have included “far-reaching, arbitrary and discriminatory restrictions on human rights and fundamental freedoms, in violation of international norms and standards,” and that documentation of “patterns of torture or ill-treatment” is credible, including “incidents of sexual […] violence.”