By Arul Louis United Nations, Sep 1 : Just hours before the end of her four-year term, UN Human Rights High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet released a controversial report that has been delayed for years that suggested that China could be guilty of “crimes against humanity” in its treatment of the Uyghur Muslim minority in the Xinjiang.
The “restrictions and deprivation in general of the fundamental rights enjoyed by all as well as collectively” by the Uyghur and other Muslims “may be considered international crimesand, in particular, human rights violations” according to the report, which was published in Geneva just before midnight on Wednesday said.
The report claimed that the Chinese government’s anti-terrorism campaign for the “arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim groups” and the restrictions on the practice of religion.
It also mentioned that Muslim minorities were suffocated with sexual violence and torture, as well as forced labour in the camps and mosques and cemeteries were destroyed.
Bachelet who was the President of Chile who was elected the Human Rights High Commissioner in 2018 was criticized for putting off the publication of the report and also for an official visit to China when it was still in preparation.
During her journey in May, she visited the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in which the Muslim minority was being oppressed by the Chinese government.
The China visit has fueled speculation regarding the delays in the publication of the report.
Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnes Callamard said after its publication that the delay “casts a mark” on the officer of the High Commissioner for Human Rights”.
In a snarling remark, Bachelet stated that she “wanted to be the most attentive in dealing with the inputs and responses” received from Beijing, with whom an early copy of the document had been shared.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in May following her trip that Washington was concerned about Beijing’s “efforts to limit and influence her trip” to Xinjiang where “genocide and crimes against humanity continue to be committed”.
A number of activist groups such as Human Rights Watch, among them.Human Rights Watch, also have criticized her.
Bachelet stated that her visit was not for “an investigation” but “to better understand the current situation in China” and also to have a conversation with Beijing officials.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres however, has defended Bachelet.
The spokesperson for the High Commissioner, Stephane Dujarric told reporters Wednesday that “He completely respects the autonomy of the Office of the High Commissioner and the work of the High Commissioner.
Bachelet who’s term was due to expire on Wednesday she made it clear in June that she was stepping down and would not run for a new term.
Guterres has not yet ready to name her replacement in the post that is always caught in controversy with the wrath of criticisms from both the government and the activists.
The report, which was 46 pages long, stated that the information made available to the office of the high commissioner “on the implementation of the stated goal of the Government against extremism and terrorism in XUAR in the time frame 2017-2019 and possibly afterward, raises questions from the point of view of international criminal law”.
In a reference to the vast detention camps referred to by Beijing’s official name, “Vocational Education Centres (VETC)” The report stated that “patterns of abuse” there “come against the background of more generalized discrimination against those of Uyghur and the other Muslim minorities due to perceived security threats originating from individual of the members of the groups”.
Minorities face “far-reaching discriminatory, arbitrary and arbitrary restrictions on the fundamental rights of people and their freedoms, in violation of international norms and norms” the report said.
These restrictions cover “undue restrictions on expression and identity in religion” as well as “violations of reproductive rights through the coercive and discriminatory enforcement of family planning and birth control policies”.
Alongside in addition to the Uyghurs, Kazakh and other predominantly Muslim minority families have also been afflicted by Beijing’s policies, it said.
The report “allegations of torture, sexual violence, ill-treatment, and forced medical treatment as well as forced labor and reports of deaths in custody” of the minorities in the detention centres and called for an investigation into the camps.
In addition to the “increasing restrictions on expressions of Muslim practices of religion” The report stated that there “are constant stories of the desecration of Islamic sacred sites like cemeteries, mosques, and shrines”.
The report cited a Beijing official document, which said that “since 2014, Xinjiang has destroyed 1,588 terrorist and violent gangs, detained 12,995 terrorists, confiscated 2,052 explosive devices, convicted 30,645 individuals for 4,858 unlawful religious activities and confiscated 345,229 copies of religious material that was illegally obtained”.
Callamard said that the report “lays the full extent and gravity of the violations of human rights occurring in Xinjiang and which Amnesty International previously concluded amounted to crimes against humanity.
There is no doubt that the Chinese government was so determined to force the UN to cover it up”.
(Arul Louis is reached via [email protected] and can be followed on Twitter at @arulouis.)
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