Amnesty International (AI) denounced this Thursday the international inaction since the publication, a year ago, of a UN report on human rights violations in the Chinese province of Xinjiang.
This long-awaited report, which the former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, published a few minutes before the end of her term, against the will of Beijing, evokes possible crimes against humanity committed against the Uyghurs and other minorities. .
On the first anniversary of the report’s publication, AI said in a statement that the response from the international community has been “regrettably inadequate.”
“Instead of acting urgently to address the report’s findings on serious violations of international law in China, the international community – including much of the UN – has failed to take the necessary steps to promote justice, truth and reparation for the victims,” he said. AI’s deputy regional director for China, Sarah Brooks, quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
In October 2022, Beijing, which rejects criticism of Xinjiang, scored a success at the UN when a narrow majority of the 47 member states of the Human Rights Council rejected a proposal by several Western countries to host a debate on Xinjiang.
Bachelet’s successor, the Austrian Volker Türk, promised in December to follow up on the report, guaranteeing that he would personally intervene with the Chinese authorities.
But AI regrets that the High Commissioner is not saying more about his talks with Beijing.
“We need national and international leaders, including human rights officials like the High Commissioner, to use all the levers at their disposal, both public and private, to bring about meaningful change in China’s repressive policies, even outspoken and based in tests with Chinese authorities, Brooks said.
This person in charge of AI asks the international community to “take action” and considers it “more urgent than ever” that States initiate, through the Human Rights Council, an international investigation into the violations in Xinjiang.
The UN report did not include any disclosures, but brought the body’s full weight to bear on long-standing allegations by human rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and others accusing Beijing of a range of abuses in Xinjiang, including the detention of more than a million Uyghurs and other Muslims and the forced sterilization of women, considering that the abuses can constitute “crimes against humanity”.
Source: TSF
