(Geneva) The United Nations considered the conclusions of a group of experts on the violations of the rights of the Uyghur minority in China “extremely disturbing”, adding that a UN investigation is due to be published.
After several months of investigation, a group of lawyers and human rights experts meeting in London on Thursday concluded that China’s treatment of the Uighurs was genocide, infuriating Beijing.
In response to a question about this, the spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, Robert Colville, did not want to comment on the issue of “genocide”, noting that the UN organization had not verified the report’s findings. .
However, he said, “The ‘Uyghur Court’ has brought to light very disturbing new information regarding the treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities in Xinjiang.
“In terms of the content – obviously we’re still looking at it, it’s a long document – but of course we’ve identified similar patterns of arbitrary detention and abuse in institutions, coercive labor practices and the erosion of social and cultural rights,” he added.
In this 63-page report, experts meeting in London said they had no evidence of a massacre of the Muslim Uyghur minority, but that the “elements of intentional genocide” as defined in the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide were, however, ” Enterprise”.
The United States has already claimed that the treatment of Uyghurs amounts to “genocide” and has announced a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Winter Olympics (February 4-20, 2022) in Beijing along with many other Western countries.
In Geneva, Mr. Colville reiterated “the need for an independent and comprehensive assessment of the human rights situation in Xinjiang”.
He declared that the Office of the High Commissioner is “finalizing its own assessment of the information available on allegations of gross human rights violations”, a report that could be issued in “a few weeks”.
Colville said the UN human rights commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, has for years called on Beijing to give it “meaningful and unimpeded access” to Xinjiang, but that a visit has not yet been possible.
Beijing rejects any UN investigation and believes any visit to the region should be “friendly”.
According to human rights organizations, at least one million Uyghurs and other Turkic-speaking minorities, most of whom are Muslims, are held in camps in Xinjiang.
Beijing argues and claims that these are vocational training centers aimed at keeping it away from terrorism and separatism, after several deadly attacks by Uyghurs.
