Western nations urge China to release detained Uyghurs, Tibetans amid human rights concerns

A coalition of Western nations have called on China to free all arbitrarily detained Uyghur Muslims and Tibetans and to allow independent human rights observers access to the regions for assessments.

Australian Ambassador to the United Nations, James Larsen during a UN General Assembly session said, “Transparency and openness are essential to alleviating concerns. We call on China to permit unrestricted and meaningful access to Xinjiang and Tibet for independent observers, including those from the UN, to evaluate the human rights situation.”

He made this statement on behalf of 15 countries, including the United States, Canada, Germany, and Japan, as per a report in the Voice of America.

Xinjiang is the autonomous region in northwestern China where the minority Uyghur and Turkic-speaking populations reside. Human rights organizations have accused Beijing of detaining up to 1 million ethnic Uyghur Muslims in “reeducation camps.” Additionally, the Chinese government has enforced strict restrictions on freedoms in Tibet.

According to the VOA report, Ambassador Larsen also referenced reports from several UN human rights experts expressing concerns about large-scale arbitrary detention in Xinjiang, enforced disappearances, forced labour, and the destruction of religious and cultural sites

“China has had numerous opportunities to meaningfully address the UN’s well-founded concerns. Instead, during its Universal Periodic Review in July, China dismissed the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ assessment as ‘illegal and void,'” he said.

Larsen further pointed out how Tibetans have been targeted by Beijing for their peaceful political expression, which has led to a decline in their language, culture, education, and religious rights, along with restrictions on their freedom to travel.

“No country has a perfect human rights record, but no nation is beyond fair scrutiny of its human rights obligations,” he said.

In response, China’s envoy rejected the accusations, claiming that the Western coalition is “weaponizing” human rights to provoke conflict.

Ambassador Fu stated, “The so-called assessment report on Xinjiang is filled with lies and deception. It is merely the result of coercion of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights by the United States and a few others.”

As per VoA, he claimed, “This once again reveals the true intentions of Australia and the U.S. to use human rights as a pretext to interfere in China’s internal affairs and undermine its development, as well as to broadly suppress developing countries that follow an independent and autonomous foreign policy.”

The United States and several other nations have characterized China’s actions in Xinjiang as genocide, a charge that Beijing denies.