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Two years after the publication of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights' landmark assessment on the situation in the Uyghur region (Xinjiang), global scrutiny of China's human rights violations remains strong.
At the UN Human Rights Council and General Assembly, UN experts, governments, and civil society organisations reiterated calls on Beijing to promptly implement UN recommendations to address abuses in the Uyghur region, in Tibet, Hong Kong, and across mainland China.
Sustained attention on the UN’s Xinjiang report
Despite Beijing’s efforts to dismiss the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ (OHCHR) expert findings, the UN’s Xinjiang report remains a central reference point in discussions on China’s rights record at the UN. Released in August 2022, the report found that Beijing may have committed, and may continue to commit, international crimes, including crimes against humanity.
During the 57th session of the UN Human Rights Council held in September 2024, ten countries composing the ‘Xinjiang Core Group’ – initially formed in September 2022 to table a vital motion on the Xinjiang report – spoke jointly to regret that China has continued to reject the OHCHR’s impartial findings and failed to engage meaningfully with the United Nations.
The joint statement urged China to release all people arbitrarily detained in the Uyghur region, clarify the status of missing persons, facilitate safe contact and reunion, and uphold its international obligations.
More than a dozen countries – including the Netherlands, Lithuania, Finland, and Japan – also spoke individually to call on China to implement the recommendations outlined in the OHCHR report on Xinjiang. Several countries also addressed the erosion of freedoms and human rights abuses in Tibet and Hong Kong, with particular emphasis on restrictions on civic space, arbitrary detentions, and the suppression of independent media.
To date, the OHCHR report has been referenced over 150 times at the Human Rights Council sessions, with repeated calls for China to take actions.
The ongoing 79th UN General Assembly has also seen progress in addressing China’s human rights violations. In a 22 October 2024 joint statement led by Australia,15 countries underscored the plethora of impartial findings by UN bodies which Beijing has disregarded, including a CERD Urgent Action calling on China to address issues of systemic racial discrimination.
The joint statement is the first at the General Assembly to call out rights abuses in Tibet in recent years, including detention, travel restrictions, coercive labour arrangements, separation of children from families in boarding schools, and the erosion of linguistic, cultural, educational and religious rights. The 15 countries urged China to ‘fully implement all UN recommendations’ and to address the widespread abuses highlighted by UN mechanisms, including by releasing those detained in both the Uyghur region and Tibet.
In September 2024, the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) moderated a side event at the Human Rights Council, bringing together human rights advocates and experts to highlight ongoing violations in Xinjiang. The panel included Uyghur human rights lawyer Rayhan Asat, Vice-Chair of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Priya Gopalan, and Human Rights Watch’s Deputy Director for Global Advocacy John Fisher.
The speakers called for the release of Uyghur detainees, full cooperation with UN bodies to ensure accountability and for both Western and Global South nations to take a more proactive stance. The event, which attracted representatives from 32 governments, also emphasised the need for broader international action from both Western and Global South countries.
The Working Group has expressed regret that the government of China has failed to engage sufficiently, constructively or in a timely fashion by providing responses to these allegations concerning the detention of individuals in the Xinjiang region. The High Commissioner's report documented the persistent failure of authorities to provide any information concerning the detention of individuals belonging to the Uyghur minority group, and the near impossibility for their family members or others to ascertain the fate of the detainees.Priya Gopalan, Vice-Chair of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, at the side event on 30 September 2024
In response, China continued to rally allied OIC and African States to call out ‘interference in China’s internal affairs’ in joint statements delivered by Cuba and Pakistan. Nothwithstaning prima facie evidence of crimes against humanity targetting Muslim minorities in China, the statement was regrettably supported by by Muslim-majority countries such as Morocco, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan and usually more human rights-leaning African governments such as Kenya and The Gambia.
It is deeply regrettable when States engage in double standards and fail to uphold universal human rights. We are dismayed that while 60 States from the global South were prepared to express solidarity and support a Pakistani led statement regarding Israel’s abuses in Lebanon, 80 States from the same world regionw ere prepared to abandon such principles and the rights of Uyghur Muslims and other minorities by signing statements which greenlight China’s grave human rights abuses.Raphaël Viana David, ISHR’s China Programme Manager
Concerns remain on persecuted activists and victims
Beyond systemic abuses, individual cases have also garnered international attention. One such case is that of Uyghur retired doctor Gulshan Abbas, detained since September 2018 in retaliation for her sister’s activism in the United States. Despite widespread international outcry, including a joint letter from four UN Special Procedures’ experts in June 2024, she remains imprisoned, serving a 20-year sentence.
Meanwhile, several countries raised the case of detained Uyghur businessman Ekpar Asat and Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai, as well as reprisals against defenders Li Qiaochu, Yu Wensheng, Xu Yan, Cao Shunli, Chow Hang Tung, and Jimmy Lai’s son Sebastien and his legal team during the Council session. Speaking out on individual cases is a crucial way to express solidarity with victims and their families, and increase political costs and pressure on perpetrators.
China’s resistance and the growing international pressure
Despite mounting international pressure, China’s response has been consistent: deny, deflect, and reject. During its Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in 2024, China rejected 30% of the recommendations from the international community – an alarming increase from the 18% rejected in 2018. All recommendations related to the Uyghur region and Muslim minorities were dismissed, showing China’s unwillingness to engage in meaningful dialogue on these issues.
However, China’s defiance has only fueled further scrutiny from the UN. In a public statement on 27 August 2024, the OHCHR reaffirmed its ongoing concerns regarding China’s human rights practices, particularly in the Uyghur region, Tibet, and Hong Kong. The Office emphasised that despite repeated calls for cooperation, access to accurate information remains limited, and there has been little transparency from the Chinese government. The Office reiterated its appeal for the release of all individuals arbitrarily detained and for China to provide clarification on the fate and whereabouts of missing persons, especially those in Xinjiang.
UN Special Procedures’ experts have also been vocal in holding China accountable, with some using the HRC platform to directly call out China’s violations. In HRC interactive dialogues with member States, UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression Irene Khan described China’s national security law as ‘one of the most draconian’, while Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders Mary Lawlor condemned the long sentences given to advocates and activists in China, noting that they are unjustly imprisoned for exercising fundamental freedoms.
The international community must continue to press China to fulfill its obligations, ensuring the protection of human rights for all individuals within its borders. ISHR reiterates its call for :
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