UN report on Xinjiang evokes crimes against humanity

The long-awaited UN report on Xinjiang, published in extremis on Wednesday, evokes possible “crimes against humanity”. Former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, for whom it was the last day at the head of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights after a four-year mandate, is thus narrowly keeping her promise by letting the document be published shortly before midnight at Geneva.

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If it does not seem to contain any revelations compared to what was already known about the situation in Xinjiang, this document brings the seal of the UN to the accusations leveled for a long time against the Chinese authorities.

“Torture and sexual violence”

In this document, the UN called on the international community to act urgently in the face of accusations of torture and sexual violence in the Chinese region of Xinjiang that the organization considers “credible”.

“Allegations of recurring practices of torture or ill-treatment, including forced medical treatment and poor prison conditions, are credible, as are individual allegations of sexual and gender-based violence,” writes the High Commission in the report.

China furious

Amnesty International also demands that the Council “establish an independent international mechanism to investigate” these crimes in Xinjiang. “This report paves the way for serious and tangible action by member states, UN agencies and companies,” said Dolkun Isa, president of the World Uyghur Congress.

China is furious. The document is based “on disinformation and lies fabricated by anti-China forces” and “wantonly defames and slanders China and interferes in China’s internal affairs”, writes the Chinese Embassy to the UN in Geneva in the comment attached to the report.

A quick search of the UN text does not bring up the word genocide. A charge on the other hand brought against Beijing by the American government. In January, the French National Assembly, following in the footsteps of the representation of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands or even Canada, had also qualified as “genocide” the treatment of the Uyghurs by China.