Willie R. Tubbs, FISM News
It was a long time coming, but five years after initial reports surfaced of China’s treatment of ethnic minorities, the United Nations has officially accused the communist nation of committing human rights violations.
The report, which originated from the U.N.’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, assessed the many accusations of China’s abuse of ethnic minorities, particularly against the Uyghur Muslims.
Investigators said they’ve uncovered “credible evidence” that China has, at a minimum, committed acts of torture that might rise to the level of crimes against humanity.
According to the report, under the guise of protecting itself from acts of terrorism, the Chinese government engaged in, among other heinous activities, discriminatory acts against Uyghurs that included forced labor, detention, denial of reproductive freedom, and the separation of sexes.
“Serious human rights violations have been committed in … the context of the Government’s application of counter-terrorism and counter-‘extremism’ strategies,” the report reads. “The implementation of these strategies, and associated policies … has led to interlocking patterns of severe and undue restrictions on a wide range of human rights. These patterns of restrictions are characterized by a discriminatory component, as the underlying acts often directly or indirectly affect Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim communities.”
If all of the above sounds familiar, or even reads like the repeat of a story long since broken, it’s because the U.N. ranks among the slowest international bodies to have formed a conclusion that numerous other entities reached months, if not years, ago.
As previously reported by FISM, the Uyghur Tribunal and the United States Holocaust Museum have levied similar accusations. Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch describe China as a nation riddled with human rights issues.
China, in another repeat of a long drawn-out storyline, has denied all accusations and says that the West is engaging in a witch hunt.
“This so-called ‘assessment’ is a politicized document that ignores the facts, and fully exposes the intention of the US, Western countries, and anti-China forces to use human rights as a political tool,” the Chinese government said in a statement shared by the BBC.
The snail’s pace at which the U.N. released its report is an excellent example of the limitations of the international body. The report, which addresses accusations that are at least a half-decade old, was repeatedly delayed by the machinations of the Chinese government. Beijing would have preferred the report never be distributed.
Michelle Bachelet, the now-former commissioner for human rights, waited until her last day on the job to make the report public and revealed to the media that she’d been under pressure from competing parties who wanted her to either release or squash the information.
“The UN human rights chief for the first time lays bare the Chinese government’s grave abuses and concludes they may amount to crimes against humanity,” John Fish, Global Advocacy Deputy Director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. “Victims and their families whom the Chinese government has long vilified have at long last seen their persecution recognized, and can now look to the UN and its member states for action to hold those responsible accountable.”
As important as the U.N.’s report might be, it remains to be seen what, if anything, will come of it. Investigators made numerous recommendations — among them releasing “all individuals arbitrarily deprived of their liberty” — but, absent direct action or truly punitive economic measures, there is likely little the international community can do beyond watch and criticize.