Xinjiang report: China must address grave human rights violations and the world must not turn a blind eye, say UN experts

GENEVA (7 September 2022) – Independent UN experts* said today that profound concerns over systematic human rights violations and their widespread effect on individuals and minorities in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region cannot, and should not, be ignored by the international community. They repeated a call for the Human Rights Council to convene a special session on China.

In supporting the recently released assessment by the UN Human Rights Office on allegations of abuses in Xinjiang, the experts highlighted the conclusion from the assessment that “the extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim minorities … may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity”. They also drew attention to the report’s findings of credible allegations of patterns of torture or ill-treatment, including forced medical treatment and adverse conditions of detention, as well as incidents of sexual and gender-based violence including invasive gynaecological exams, and indications of coercive enforcement of family planning and birth control policies.

The experts described the assessment, released on 31 August 2022, as comprehensive and principled, adding that it built on and backed the findings and views of multiple Special Procedure mandate holders and Working Groups.

The experts welcomed the attention given in the report to widespread misuse of counter-terrorism and counter-extremism laws, policies and practice.

The experts are particularly concerned that both UN human rights mechanisms in tandem with this assessment demonstrate that:  “China’s policies and practices have limited the legitimate exercise of the right to freedom of religion or belief, the right to family life including reproductive rights for women, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to assemble and associate peacefully, the right to privacy, the right to cultural life, and the right to live free from arbitrary detention, forced labour as well as freedom from any violation of the right to life and from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment and from enforced disappearance as well as the right of religious and ethnic minorities to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their own religion, or to use their own language”.

The experts said they “endorse and support all the recommendations made by the UN Human Rights Office and offer their support to facilitate the implementation of these recommendations. They called on the Government to invite mandate holders and affirmed their availability to undertake country visits, as well as to provide technical assistance and support to the Government.”

The experts also reiterated recommendations made in their June 2020 joint statement, urging the Human Rights Council to hold a special session to address  human rights issues more broadly in China precisely because key issues of concern, especially arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, restrictions to movement, privacy, freedom of religion, freedom of expression are occurring in other parts of the country premised on grounds of national security. The Human Rights Council should urgently consider the creation of a Special Procedures mandate, or a panel of experts to closely monitor, analyse and report annually on the human rights situation in China; the General Assembly or Secretary-General should consider the creation of a special envoy; and they urge UN Member States and UN agencies and business enterprises to demand that China fulfils its human rights obligations, including during their ongoing dialogues with the Government.

ENDS

The experts: Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism; Alice Edwards, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Siobhán Mullally, Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children; Clément Nyaletsossi Voule, Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association;  Balakrishnan Rajagopal, Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context; Attiya Waris, Independent Expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related international financial obligations of States on the full enjoyment of all human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights; Tomoya Obokata, Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences; Luciano Hazan (Chair-Rapporteur), Aua Baldé (Vice Chair), Grażyna Baranowska, Gabriella Citroni and  Angkhana Neelapaijit, Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances; Ana Brian Nougrères, Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy; Tlaleng Mofokeng, Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health;  Miriam Estrada-Castillo (Chair-Rapporteur), Mumba Malila (Vice-chairperson), Elina Steinerte, Priya Gopalan, Matthew Gillett, Working Group on arbitrary detention; Nazila Ghanea, Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief; Reem Alsalem, Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences;  Fernand de Varennes, Special Rapporteur on Minorities Issues; Sorcha MacLeod (Chair-Rapporteur),  Jelena Aparac, Ravindran Daniel, Chris Kwaja, Carlos Salazar Couto, Working Group on the use of mercenaries; Irene Khan, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; Melissa Upreti (Chair), Dorothy Estrada Tanck (Vice-Chair), Elizabeth Broderick, Ivana Radačić, and Meskerem Geset Techane, Working Group on discrimination against women and girls; Tendayi Achiume, Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance; Alexandra Xanthaki, Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights; Farida Shaheed, Special Rapporteur on the right to education; Claudia Mahler Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons; Morris Tidball-Binz, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Fabián Salvioli, Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence; Fernanda Hopenhaym (Chairperson),  Elżbieta Karska, Robert McCorquodale, Damilola Olawuyi and Pichamon Yeophantong (Vice-Chairperson), Working Group on Business and Human Rights; Michael Fakhri, Special Rapporteur on the right to food.

The Special Rapporteurs, Independent Experts and Working Groups are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.

UN Human Rights, country page – China