China must address grave human rights concerns and enable credible international investigation: UN experts

GENEVA (10 June 2022) – Ahead of the 50th session of the Human Rights Council, a group of UN experts* today urged the Government of China to cooperate fully with the UN human rights system and grant unhindered access to independent experts who have received and addressed allegations of significant human rights violations and repression of fundamental freedoms in the country.

“Cooperation includes allowing visits by UN Special Procedures mechanisms and granting full access, particularly to places of detention,” the experts said. “Strengthening engagement with independent human rights experts and Human Rights Council mechanisms is crucial to full and transparent enforcement of China’s human rights obligations.”

Recognising high-level engagement with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights by the Government of China during her recent visit to the country, the experts stressed the value of constructive dialogue with the Government by all UN human rights entities. The experts stressed that this engagement does not replace the urgent need for a complete assessment of the human rights situation in the country, and especially in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the Tibet Autonomous Region and in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

“The Government of China must address specific and systematic human rights violations,” the UN experts said, calling on authorities in Beijing to ensure full and transparent cooperation with the totality of the UN’s human rights system.

They renewed the calls made in a June 2020 joint statement by 50 UN Special Rapporteurs and human rights experts, which catalogued concerns about the treatment of ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and the Tibet Autonomous Region, allegations of excessive force against protesters including in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and reports of retaliation against people speaking out about the coronavirus outbreak. The statement highlighted the need to protect fundamental human rights in China including freedoms of expression, cultural rights, peaceful assembly and association, religion or belief, and non-discrimination; to prevent forced labour in the formal and informal economy, protect journalists and health care workers; and to promote women’s freedom from sexual violence and ensure sexual and reproductive health rights are equally guaranteed to all women and girls regardless of ethnic or religious identity.

“Since 2017, we have repeatedly raised concerns about widespread violations of the rights of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) on the basis of religion or belief and under the pretext of national security and preventing extremism,” the experts said. “Several reports submitted to the Human Rights Council by Special Rapporteurs also have repeatedly raised these and related issues. Deep concerns also persist about the rights of religious and ethnic minorities in the Tibet Autonomous Region and other parts of the country.

“We have yet to see any signs of political will to address the concerns raised,” the experts added. Recent improvements with respect to the rights of persons with disabilities shows that progress is possible.

UN human rights experts have previously expressed serious concerns about the alleged harassment, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention and undue prosecution and sentencing of lawyers and human rights defenders including women human rights defenders, among other civil society representatives, business-related human rights abuses and of trafficking for purposes of forced labour and other purposes of exploitation. “UN Special Procedures experts continue to voice their concerns over the absence of protection for the right to privacy, reported use of mass surveillance including in the XUAR, entrenched censorship and consolidation of anti-terrorism and sedition law applied to Hong Kong.”

The experts reiterate recommendations made in the June 2020 joint statement, urging the Human Rights Council to convene a special session on China; consider the creation of a Special Procedures mandate, a special envoy of the Secretary General or a panel of experts to closely monitor, analyse and report annually on the human rights situation in China; and urging UN Member States and UN agencies to demand that China fulfils its human rights obligations including during their ongoing dialogues with Beijing.

They emphasized the value of ensuring a consistent United Nations approach to all States in assessing their human rights obligations and commitments. “Upholding the same standards and their equal application to all States big and small is important to maintaining the integrity, credibility and moral authority of Human Rights Council and UN systems for human rights enforcement around the world,” the experts said.