According to the UN report, “the policies and practices described in (the region) have transcended borders, separating families and severing human contact, while causing particular suffering to affected Uighur, Kazakh and other predominantly Muslim minority families , exacerbated by patterns of intimidation and threats against members of the diaspora community speaking publicly.”
The Chinese government, which had repeatedly opposed the release of the report, responded in a 131-page document, nearly three times the length of the report, denouncing the findings as “based on misinformation and lies fabricated by anti-Chinese forces.”
Beijing’s response was published by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) alongside its own report after China was given early access to the document to review and respond.
While the report was welcomed by some Uighurs abroad and human rights activists, any progress towards further investigation, as called for in the report, would need approval from UN member states in a body where China has considerable influence. Action on other recommendations in the report, such as the release of arbitrarily detained people and clarification of the whereabouts of missing persons, would depend on the cooperation of the Chinese government.
Inside Xinjiang
The report focuses on what it describes as “arbitrary detention and related patterns of abuse” inside what Beijing claims are “vocational education and training centers” between 2017 and 2019.
He concluded that descriptions of detentions during this period “were marked by patterns of torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
The report details the findings of what the Office of the High Commissioner describes as years of efforts to analyze and evaluate public documents, open source and research materials. It also includes information gathered from interviews with 40 ethnic Uyghur, Kazakh and Kyrgyz people. Twenty-six of those interviewed reported that they had been detained or worked in various facilities in Xinjiang.
“The extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim groups … may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity,” according to the report.
The UN report said China’s “counter-terrorism legal system” is “deeply problematic from the perspective of international human rights norms and standards” and “has led to arbitrary deprivation of liberty in practice large-scale” of the Uyghurs and other Muslim communities.
Although Beijing prevented the High Commissioner from conducting an on-the-ground investigation, the report included descriptions of those who had experienced the so-called vocational training and education centers in Xinjiang, in their own words.
“They didn’t tell me why I was there or how long I would be there. They asked me to confess to a crime, but I didn’t know what I had to confess to,” said one person interviewed by the office, as he explained. the report
The report also said that almost all interviewees described being given injections, pills or both regularly, which made them feel numb, while some interviewees also spoke of “various forms of sexual violence”, including some cases of rape , as well as various forms of sexual humiliation, including forced nudity, according to the report.
Allegations of sexual and gender-based violence “appear credible”, the report says, but it is not possible to “draw wider conclusions” about the extent to which they were part of wider patterns within the facilities based on the information existing, he said. .
“The Government’s widespread denials of all allegations, as well as its gendered and humiliating attacks on those who have come forward to share their experiences, have increased the indignity and suffering of survivors,” the report said.
The report says that while it cannot confirm the number of detainees at the facilities, a reasonable conclusion can be drawn from the available information that the number of people in the facilities, at least between 2017 and 2019, was ” very important, in a substantial proportion.” of the Uyghur population and other Muslim minorities.
This detention system, according to the report, was also “against the backdrop of broader discrimination” against members of Uighurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities based on “perceived security threats” emanating from individual members of ‘these groups.
These have included undue restrictions on religious identity and expression, and on the rights to privacy and movement. The report also pointed to “serious indications” of violations of reproductive rights through “the coercive and discriminatory application of family planning and birth control policies.”
He also addressed allegations of forced labor in the region, stating that employment plans with the supposed purposes of poverty alleviation and prevention of extremism, “may involve elements of coercion and discrimination on religious and ethnic grounds.” .
In its response on Wednesday, Beijing said the report “distorts” China’s laws and policies.
“All ethnic groups, including the Uyghurs, are equal members of the Chinese nation,” China’s response said. “Xinjiang has taken actions to fight terrorism and extremism in accordance with the law, effectively curbing the frequent cases of terrorist activities. Currently, Xinjiang enjoys social stability, economic development, cultural prosperity and religious harmony. The people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang is to live a happy life in peace and contentment.”
A separate statement from China’s UN mission in Geneva described the report as “a farce planned by the US, Western countries and anti-Chinese forces”, adding that “the assessment is a political tool” and “a politicized document that ignores the facts.”
What follows
Over the past four years, the international community within the UN has done little to address allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
Countries at its top human rights body have not accepted any formal calls for an investigation, while appeals by UN experts for China to allow rights monitoring have been met with fierce denials from illicit acts from Beijing and no invitation to freely access to see them. themselves.
This blockade at the UN has increased the attention and importance of the High Commissioner’s report for those who have tried to hold China to account within the international system.
The report does not clarify the political challenges to advancing demands for a formal UN investigation, as China holds significant sway among UN member states. But rights campaigners have said it should be a wake-up call for international action.
Omer Kanat, executive director of the Uyghur Human Rights Project, called the report a “game changer for the international response to the Uyghur crisis.”
“Despite strong denials by the Chinese government, the UN has officially acknowledged that horrific crimes are taking place,” it said in a statement signed by a group of 60 Uyghur organizations from 20 countries.
CNN’s Richard Roth and Caitlin Hu in New York, Jorge Engels in London and Nectar Gan in Hong Kong contributed to this report.