In his global update opening the 60th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC60) in Geneva, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said the progress his Office (OHCHR) has sought for the protection of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the Uyghur region (Xinjiang), as well as Tibetans in their regions, ‘has yet to materialise’. He added that in Hong Kong, the extension of national security powers has ‘sharply curtailed the vitality of an open and free public square’.
One year ago, OHCHR issued a rare statement lamenting limited access to information and recalling its report’s recommendations. Expectations were high this time that Türk would mark the report’s three-year anniversary, particularly in the absence of any evidence of progress. Despite the gravity of these concerns, Türk’s global update neglected to explicitly reference the Xinjiang report, or to reinforce its findings and long-standing UN calls on China to release those arbitrarily detained, revise problematic laws and policies, and clarify the whereabouts of those disappeared.
In later debates, several States directly pressed China to account for its record on arbitrary detention and to follow up on the findings of the Xinjiang assessment. The European Union, the Netherlands, Sweden and Finland called for full implementation of the report’s recommendations, while France and the United Kingdom stressed the need for continued monitoring and a clear assessment of China’s steps to implement them.
Austria, Australia, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Lithuania, Ireland and Switzerland also raised concern about rights violations in China, including in the Uyghur region, Tibet and Hong Kong, where fundamental freedoms continue to be eroded.
Attention also turned to emblematic cases and patterns of repression. The United Kingdom highlighted the arbitrary imprisonment of Jimmy Lai and women’s rights activist Sophia Huang Xueqin, while Norway raised the detention of over 110 media professionals in China, many held incommunicado. Canada, Germany and Switzerland further condemned China’s use of transnational repression to silence human rights defenders abroad.
These calls took place against the backdrop of another painful anniversary: the seventh year since Uyghur doctor Gulshan Abbas was arbitrarily detained. ISHR drew attention to her case as emblematic of the concerns raised in the Xinjiang report, noting that her continued imprisonment reflects the systemic nature of arbitrary detention in China.
Three years on from the Office report, Dr Abbas remains detained and there is no credible evidence that the human rights situation in China has improved in any meaningful way. With the High Commissioner’s update reflecting a lack of progress despite private engagement, ISHR asked what concrete steps his Office will take to prevent and promote accountability for China’s grave and widespread violations.
ISHR during the General Debate on the global update by High Commissioner
China remains worst perpetrator of reprisals for cooperation with the UN
The latest UN Secretary-General’s annual report on reprisals against civil society actors engaging with the UN documented several concerning cases linked to China. It highlighted the targeting of Hong Kong Democracy Council staff Anna Kwok and Carmen Lau, whose passports were revoked following arrest warrants, and the intimidation of Uyghur linguist Abduweli Ayup during his participation in a UN conference. The report also followed up on continuing repression faced by members of Jimmy Lai’s international legal team, as well as human rights defenders Chow Hang-Tung, Li Qiaochu, Xu Yan, Yu Wensheng, Chen Jianfang, Wang Yu, Li Wenzu, Wang Quanzhang, Wang Qiaoling, Li Heping and Jiang Tianyong.
In a separate dialogue on reprisals, Australia (for Canada and New Zealand), Luxembourg (for the Netherlands and Belgium), Liechtenstein and Germany again called for the release of Jimmy Lai, along with Hong Kong labour rights lawyer Chow Hang Tung, human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng and human rights defender Xu Yan, and condemned the impact of the National Security Law. Each of these people has been arbitrarily detained to suppress dissent and retaliate against their peaceful advocacy for rights, equality and justice.
Widespread and systematic arbitrary detention in China
On the margins of HRC60, ISHR co-organised a side event with the Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD), Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International to examine the systemic nature of arbitrary detention in China. The panel brought together UN experts, rights groups, and victims’ families, offering both expert analysis and personal testimony on how arbitrary detention is used as a tool of repression.
UN Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders Mary Lawlor warned that Beijing’s long-term imprisonment of defenders is among the most damaging forms of repression. She urged governments to raise cases and show solidarity with defenders and their families.
States, you really have to up your game and continue to include the names of such prisoners in your human rights dialogues with China. You must make efforts to visit them or engage with family members to let them know they have not been forgotten. But most of all, you have to stop being afraid of China.
Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders
CHRD’s Sophie Richardson presented findings of their recent research report, showing how Beijing weaponises laws to silence peaceful expression, deny fair trials, punish minorities disproportionately, and subjects those released to ongoing restrictions through ‘non-release release’.
Our research shows at least 1,500 people who are convicted nationwide for exercising or defending rights, not including those in arbitrary pre-trial detention or forcibly disappeared. It is fairly clear that these abuses are widespread and systematic.
Sophie Richardson, Co-Executive Director, Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders
For Uyghur activist Rizwangul NurMuhammed, the issue is deeply personal, as her brother was arrested in 2017 and sentenced to nine years without due process. She also conducted a survey of 49 Uyghur diaspora families, documenting more than 250 relatives arbitrarily detained or disappeared, showing the scale of repression.
The [OHCHR’s Xinjiang] report validates the lived experience of Uyghur victims, giving weight and legitimacy to our claims. However, the recommendations have not been implemented. [...] It leaves us isolated, without legal options, without legal protections and living in fear, anxiety and uncertainty, making it harder for us to report abuses and seek justice and even talk to our family members over phone calls.
Rizwangul NurMuhammed, Uyghurs at UN Initiative
Human Rights Watch’s China researcher Yalkun Uluyol echoed these concerns, describing how his father and relatives were sentenced to lengthy prison terms without due process. He situated their cases within a broader pattern of repression across the Uyghur region, Tibet, and Hong Kong.
Three years since the UN report, the UN High Commissioner should strengthen his efforts to press the Chinese government to implement UN recommendations and provide the Human Rights Council with a comprehensive public update.
Yalkun Uluyol, China Researcher, Human Rights Watch
Arbitrary detentions are part of a continuum of rights abuses faced by individuals across the country. In a video message, Ana Lorena Delgadillo Pérez, member of the UN Working Group on enforced and involuntary disappearances, also warned that incommunicado detention systems in China, such as Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location (RSDL), amount to enforced disappearance and may constitute crimes against humanity when systematic.
Used as a tool of repression and control, enforced disappearances in China aim to silence dissent and punish collectively, often with direct involvement of the State. When committed as a part of the widespread or systematic attack against civilians or targeting specific groups, they may constitute crimes against humanity under international law.
Ana Lorena Delgadillo Pérez, member of the UN Working Group on enforced and involuntary disappearances
Watch the full recording of the side event:
ISHR calls on States to take urgent steps, individually and jointly, to press China to implement UN recommendations to release all individuals arbitrary detained, clarify the whereabouts of those disappeared, and reform national security and counter-terrorism laws and frameworks so as to comply with international law.
ISHR once more urges High Commissioner Türk to ensure sustained follow-up on the Office’s Xinjiang report, including by regularly and publicly calling on China to implement its recommendations, increasing monitoring of the human rights situation in China with a view to updating the report, and publicly advocating for the release of detained human rights defenders.
Author
Lee Chung Lun
Lee Chung Lun is a programme officer at ISHR. He supports Chinese, Uyghur, Tibetan, and Hong Kong human rights defenders in their advocacy at the United Nations.
