HRN has released a statement on abuses by the Chinese government against Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims following the visit of High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet to China. In the statement we express concern that Bachele’s statements were much too weak for the occasion, and weak responses from UN officials will only be used by the Chinese government to diminish the severity of its crimes and harden its impunity. We thus requested Ms. Bachelet and OHCHR to make such strongly worded statements, and to release the delayed official report on the human rights situation in Xinjiang region, which provides a full and accurate description of the scale and severity of the government\u2019s violations.<\/p>\n
You can read our statement below and from the following link in PDF format: Following High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet\u2019s recent official visit to China, Human Rights Now (HRN), a Tokyo-based international human rights NGO, protests abuses by the Chinese government against Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims, including mass detentions, torture, forced labor, sexual violence, and other crimes against humanity, and we call on the High Commissioner\u2019s office and the international community to redouble their efforts to oppose and pressure the government to end them. The recent leak of tens of thousands of official photographs and documents\u2014displaying, documenting, and instructing authorities to commit abuses\u2014leave no doubt about the deep and widespread culpability of the Chinese government in these crimes.<\/p>\n In May 2020, HRN released a report summarizing the facts and evidence of serious crimes against humanity being committed against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims by the Chinese government as part of its \u201cStrike Hard Campaign against Violent Terrorism\u201d.[1]<\/a> Since 2017, between 1 to 2 million Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims, from the ages of 13 to 84, have been detained in re-education camps in China\u2019s northwestern Xinjiang region, about 15% of the region\u2019s population.[2]<\/a> Documented criteria for detentions are arbitrary and pretextual, and include religious conduct, such as growing a beard or abstaining from alcohol; being related to someone already detained; travelling or communicating with people abroad; and having too many children (the most common reason). Detainees are then subjected to a highly abusive re-education program as part of a comprehensive effort to erase Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims\u2019 identity, culture and religion, motivated by extreme discrimination, political paranoia, and exaggerated threat perceptions by the government against Turkic Muslims.[3]<\/a> The children of detained parents are placed into government-run boarding schools across the region, and reports of alleged rape, torture, forced abortion, and sterilization in the camps are widespread.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n The recently leak of tens of thousands of internal government files, taken from Public Security Bureau (PSB) computers for Konasheher and Tekes counties covering the period 2000-2018, clearly demonstrates the abusive conditions of the re-education camps and Chinese officials\u2019 direct involvement in their abuses.[5]<\/a> The cache includes official speech transcripts, such as former Xinjiang Party Secretary Chen Quanguo\u2019s instructions for \u201cabsolute security\u201d of detention camps, including instructions for police to \u201cshoot dead\u201d anyone who even attempts to escape by running a few steps, and to \u201cshoot all terrorists dead\u201d and to \u201cfirst kill and then report\u201d in response to security incidents, inconsistent with China’s own policing standards.[6]<\/a> Detention camp directives and guidelines in the files give explicit instructions for prison-like measures, such as Ili Prefecture PSB\u2019s guideline that shackling and hooding of detainees must not be lax,[7]<\/a> and another guideline that watchtowers be armed with sniper rifles and military-grade machine guns to provide \u201csuppressive fire\u201d against potential intruders.[8]<\/a><\/p>\n Internal spreadsheets from Konasheher show the personal information of nearly the entire county population in 2018 (286,000 people), including detention levels and the arbitrary reasons for detentions as listed above, indicating that about 12.5% of the county\u2019s ethnic adults were detained in re-education, detention, or prison facilities, over 64 times higher than China\u2019s national imprisonment rate.[9]<\/a> Photos in the cache show a prisoner with hood and shackles, guards with wooden clubs or in military fatigues with machine guns, guards training to use forcible tactics to subdue detainees, and a tiger chair interrogation.[10]<\/a> There are also photos of over 2,800 detainees, many confirmed by family members or corroborating evidence, supporting the veracity of the leak.[11]<\/a> Other violations beyond the camps include widespread forced labor, homestay surveillance, forced marriages, the destruction of cultural property, and restrictions on cultural and religious expression.[12]<\/a><\/p>\n As for High Commissioner Bachelet\u2019s recent visit to Xinjiang, while it is important for the United Nations to endeavor to have constructive engagement with the government of China on this critical issue, we must express that a weak response from UN officials will only be used by the Chinese government to diminish the severity of its crimes and harden its impunity.[13]<\/a> In this respect, Ms. Bachelet\u2019s comments were much too weak for the occasion. She only invited the government \u201cto potentially rethink [its] policies\u201d negatively impacting human rights, and the concerns she publicly raised about Uyghurs\u2019 rights (referring to the lack of judicial oversight for detentions and a means for victims to seek redress) did not indicate of the full scale or severity of the violations involved, the combination of which only appears to minimize the violations.[14]<\/a><\/p>\n As expected, the Chinese government has already misrepresented the engagement, misquoting Bachelet as saying that she \u201cadmires\u201d China\u2019s efforts \u201cprotecting human rights\u201d, requiring Bachelet to release a rebuttal with her actual words that made no mention of admiring China\u2019s human rights record.[15]<\/a> This incident shows how essential it is that UN officials give unambiguous and strongly worded statements exposing the full scope of the government\u2019s violations and bringing real pressure on it to be accountable for its crimes, so that they are not vulnerable to manipulations which strengthen the government\u2019s impunity. To this end, we request Ms. Bachelet and OHCHR to make such unambiguous, accurate, and strongly worded statements, and to release the delayed official report on the human rights situation in Xinjiang region, which provides a full and accurate description of the scale and severity of the government\u2019s violations.[16]<\/a> A more forceful response by the international community is also needed.<\/p>\n HRN calls on the Chinese government to immediately end all abuses associated with its Strike Hard Campaign against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims, including mass detentions, torture, sexual violence, forced labor, homestay and mass surveillance, destruction of cultural areas, restrictions on cultural and religious expression, and other abuses; to implement effective judicial review and grievance mechanisms for victims; and to ensure accountability for past violations. HRN further requests that OHCHR conduct a meaningful investigation and quickly release an accurate report on the human rights situation in Xinjiang, and that the international community implement sanctions and other forms of appropriate pressure to urge the Chinese government to end its abuses against Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims, and to facilitate accountability for these rights violations.<\/p>\n __________<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> HRN, \u201cThe Government of China Must Immediately End Its Campaign of Mass Detentions, Abuse, Forced Labor, and Destruction of Muslim Culture in Xinjiang\u201d, 1 May 2020, https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/news\/2020\/05\/01\/xinjiang-statement\/<\/a><\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Scilla Alecci, \u201cThe faces of China\u2019s detention camps in Xinjiang,\u201d International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, 24 May 2022, https:\/\/www.icij.org\/investigations\/china-cables\/xinjiang-police-files-uyghur-mugshots-detention\/<\/a>; id.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> John Sudworth, \u201cThe faces from China\u2019s Uyghur detention camps,\u201d BBC, May 2022, https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/extra\/85qihtvw6e\/the-faces-from-chinas-uyghur-detention-camps<\/a>.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> HRN, supra<\/em>, note 1; Vincent Ni, \u201cThousands of detained Uyghurs pictured in leaked Xinjiang police files,\u201d The Guardian, 25 May 2022, https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2022\/may\/24\/thousands-of-detained-uyghurs-pictured-in-leaked-xinjiang-police-files<\/a>.<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> Xinjiang Police Files (a project by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation), https:\/\/www.xinjiangpolicefiles.org\/<\/a>; id.<\/p>\n [6]<\/a> Adrian Zenz, \u201cThe Xinjiang Police Files: Re-Education\u201d, 3 Journal of the European Association for Chinese Studies, 2022, at 12, 14, https:\/\/journals.univie.ac.at\/index.php\/jeacs\/article\/view\/7336<\/a>.<\/p>\n [7]<\/a> Id. at 13.<\/p>\n [8]<\/a> Id. at 26.<\/p>\n [9]<\/a> Id. at 3.<\/p>\n [10]<\/a> Xinjiang Police Files, supra<\/em>, note 5, at \u201cKey Documents\u201d; id., at 23-24.<\/p>\n [11]<\/a> Zenz, id., at 34 ff.<\/p>\n [12]<\/a> HRN, supra, note 1.<\/p>\n [13]<\/a> United Nations, \u201cUN rights chief concludes China trip with promise of improved relations,\u201d UN News, 28 May 2022, https:\/\/news.un.org\/en\/story\/2022\/05\/1119302<\/a>.<\/p>\n [14]<\/a> Statement by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet after official visit to China, UN OHCHR, 28 May 2022, https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/en\/statements\/2022\/05\/statement-un-high-commissioner-human-rights-michelle-bachelet-after-official<\/a>; Associated Press, \u201cU.N. human rights chief asks China to rethink Uyghur policies,\u201d NPR, 29 May 2022, https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2022\/05\/29\/1101969720\/un-human-rights-chief-asks-china-to-rethink-uyghur-policies<\/a>.<\/p>\n [15]<\/a> Al Jazeera, \u201cUN\u2019s Bachelet says China trip not for a probe, faces criticism\u201d, 28 May 2022, https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2022\/5\/28\/hr-organisations-slam-un-right-chief-over-china-visit<\/a>; Wang & Ramzy, \u201cAs U.N. Rights Chief Visits China, Some Fear She\u2019ll Become Part of the Spin\u201d, New York Times, 27 May 2022, https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/05\/27\/world\/asia\/un-china-xinjiang.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n [16]<\/a> Mercedes Page, \u201cThe mysterious missing UN report on human rights abuses in Xinjiang,\u201d The Lowy Institute, 6 April 2022, https:\/\/www.lowyinstitute.org\/the-interpreter\/mysterious-missing-un-report-human-rights-abuses-xinjiang<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" HRN has released a statement on abuses by the Chinese government against Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims following the visit of High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet to China. In the statement we express concern that Bachele’s statements were much too weak for the occasion, and weak responses from UN officials will only be used by the Chinese government to diminish the severity of its crimes and harden its impunity. We thus requested Ms. Bachelet and OHCHR to make such strongly worded statements, and to release the delayed official report on the human rights situation in Xinjiang region, which provides a full and accurate description of the scale and severity of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6220,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[157,5,219],"countries":[252],"class_list":["post-6497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-statement","tag-accountability-for-gross-human-rights-violations","tag-united-nations","tag-uyghurs","countries-china"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6497"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6501,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6497\/revisions\/6501"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6497"},{"taxonomy":"countries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/countries?post=6497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nHRN_Statement_More_Must_be_Done_to_End_Abuses_of_Uyghurs.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n
\nMore Must Be Done to Pressure the Government of China to Immediately End Its Abuses of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims<\/strong><\/h2>\n