US, Britain and Germany slam China at UNSC on Uyghur issue

The US, Britain, and Germany slammed China at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting on the issue of ethnic Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities being abused in the restive Xinjiang province. The remarks were made at a UNSC briefing on counterterrorism/ISIL/Daésh as all three countries cautioned Beijing not to use “counterterrorism” as a pretext to silence political dissent.

The US Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Kelly Craft said, “We are deeply concerned by the situation in Xinjiang, where more than one million Uyghurs and other Muslims have been detained under the false guise of counterterrorism.”

“Counterterrorism and countering violent extremism should never be used as a pretext to silence political dissent or freedom of expression or to violate religious freedom or repress minority groups,” Craft added.

The US has hardened its stand on China for its oppression of Uyghur Muslims. In July, US President Donald Trump signed the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act, which holds China accountable for grotesque human rights violations.

UK’s Envoy to UN James Roscoe echoed the sentiments saying, “We remain deeply concerned about systematic, egregious human rights violations against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities.”

“International law, respect for human rights and rule of law, and fair trials and due process must be respected around the world. This applies to Xinjiang in China. We would also like to take this opportunity to challenge the Council to refuse to accept countries’ attempt to misuse counterterrorism to pursue their own political ends.”

The Envoy further said that “we are deeply concerned by the situation in Xinjiang, where more than one million Uyghurs and other Muslims have been detained under the false guise of counterterrorism. Confinement that is imposed on the basis of vague indicators without fair trial guarantees is inconsistent with international law. Counterterrorism and countering violent extremism should never be used as a pretext to silence political dissent or freedom of expression, or to violate religious freedom or repress minority.”

China has been widely condemned for setting up detention complexes in remote Xinjiang. It describes them as “education training centers” helping to stamp out extremism and give people new skills.

Germany said at the meeting that “counter-terrorism measures must never serve as a pretext for human rights violations”. Envoy Gunter Sautter explained, “regarding Xinjiang, the internment of large parts of the population is, in our view, unjustified. In the long run, it is prone not to reduce but rather to increase the risk emanating of terrorist organizations.”

Earlier this year, the Hong Kong issue was raised at UNSC’s closed-door meet for the first time over the new security law irking Beijing.

The Uyghurs, a Turkic-speaking minority from Central Asia, are a distinct ethnic group from Han Chinese, with Urumqi being closer to Kabul than Beijing. In 2009, the most infamous riot broke out in the streets of Urumqi, Xinjiang Province which pitted Uyghur Muslims against Han Chinese. Communist China has turned the entire region into a highly controlled, open-air prison after the Urumqi riots in 2009..