Alliance for Vietnam’s Democracy urges the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to swiftly release her office’s report on Chinese government rights violations.

SAIGON, VIETNAM, March 10, 2022/EINPresswire.com/ -- The Alliance for Vietnam’s Democracy joins almost 200 human rights groups in an open letter urging the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to swiftly release her office’s report on Chinese government rights violations targeting Uyghurs and other Turkic people.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet first indicated her intent to report on Chinese government abuses across East Turkistan in 2018. Since that time, she has offered procedural updates on the status of negotiations to gain meaningful access to the region. In September 2021, Bachelet confirmed that her office was “finalizing its assessment of the available information on allegations of serious human rights violations in [East Turkistan] with a view to making it public.” In December, a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said the report would be released in a matter of weeks.

Along with other signatories, the Alliance for Vietnam’s Democracy urged the High Commissioner “to fulfil your mandate, release the report without further delay, and brief members and observers of the UN Human Rights Council on its contents as a matter of urgency.”

Though not a substitute for publishing the report, this week’s announcement of a planned visit in May 2022 to East Turkistan by the High Commissioner is welcomed by the Alliance, which emphasized the need for “meaningful unfettered access that will enable human rights defenders, or victims and their families, to speak to the High Commissioner safely, unsupervised and without fear of reprisal.”

Human rights groups believe China has detained more than one million Uyghurs against their will over the past few years in a large network of so-called "re-education camps", and sentenced hundreds of thousands to prison terms. There is also evidence that Uyghurs are being used as forced labor and of Uyghur women being forcibly sterilized, along with allegations of torture and sexual abuse.

China has denied all allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang, claiming its system of "re-education" camps are there to combat separatism and Islamist militancy in the region.

In December 2021, the Uyghur Tribunal chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice, QC, formerly of the International Criminal Court, has determined, "beyond reasonable doubt that the PRC, by the imposition of measures to prevent births intended to destroy a significant part of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang as such, has committed genocide.” Several countries, including the US, have made similar determination. The leading human rights groups Amnesty and Human Rights Watch have published reports accusing China of crimes against humanity.

Prof. Phan Thong Hung
Alliance for Vietnam's Democracy
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