To China’s fury, UN accuses Beijing of Uyghur rights abuses

[Stevicus]

To China’s fury, UN accuses Beijing of Uyghur rights abuses | AP News

BEIJING (AP) — The U.N. accused China of serious human rights violations that may amount to “crimes against humanity” in a long-delayed report examining a crackdown on Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups. Beijing on Thursday denounced the assessment as a fabrication cooked up by Western nations.

For several years, human rights groups have accused China of sweeping a million or more people from the minority groups into detention camps in a ruthless campaign against extremism that has struck fear into large segments of the population in the far western province of Xinjiang.

The assessment from the Geneva-based U.N. human rights office largely corroborated earlier reporting by researchers, advocacy groups and the news media, and it added the weight of the world body to the conclusions. But it was not clear what impact it would have.

Still, among Uyghurs who have fled overseas, there was a palpable sense of relief that the report had finally seen the light of day since many worried that it would never be published. Several saw it as a vindication of their cause and of years of advocacy work.

“The report is pretty damning, and a strong indictment on China’s crimes against humanity,” said Rayhan Asat, a Uyghur lawyer whose brother is imprisoned in Xinjiang. “For years, the Chinese government has said the Uyghurs are terrorists. Now, we can point to them and say, you’re the terrorists.”

“The assessment is a patchwork of false information that serves as political tools for the U.S. and other Western countries to strategically use Xinjiang to contain China,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said. “It again shows that the U.N. Human Rights Office has been reduced to an enforcer and accomplice of the U.S. and other Western countries.”

In a sign of China’s fury, it issued a 122-page rebuttal, entitled “Fight against Terrorism and Extremism in Xinjiang: Truth and Facts,” that was posted by the U.N. along with the report.

Its findings were drawn in part from interviews with former detainees and others familiar with conditions at eight detention centers.

The report said that descriptions of the detentions were marked by patterns of torture and other cruel and inhumane treatment and that allegations of rape and other sexual violence appeared credible.

One thing that struck me about this was in the headline and the emphasis on "China's fury." What sort of imagery and impressions would that evoke from the reader? I've noticed this as a recurring pattern in stories about China in recent years, where they're always getting mad about something or other.

But this report is quite serious and quite damning, at least from what is being said in this article.

Another aspect of this is in what led up to the UN publishing the report, since there was a chance it would not be published. Amnesty International was critical of the delay in releasing it.

That the report was released was in some ways as important as its contents.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said she had to resist pressure both to publish and not publish. The report was published just minutes before her tenure officially ended.

She had announced in June that the report would be released by end of her four-year term on Aug. 31, triggering a swell in back-channel campaigns — including letters from civil society, civilians and governments on both sides of the issue.

“To be perfectly honest, the politicization of these serious human rights issues by some states did not help,” said Bachelet.

Critics had said a failure to publish the report would have been a glaring black mark on her tenure.

“The inexcusable delay in releasing this report casts a stain” on the record of the U.N. human rights office, said Agnès Callamard, the secretary-general of Amnesty International, “but this should not deflect from its significance.”

 

[sun rise]

"fury" is a emotional word designed to attract "eyeballs" to the story and of course the accompanying ads. I'd bet "angry" or even "acting angry" would have been better words to use.

 

[Truthseeker]

"fury" is a emotional word designed to attract "eyeballs" to the story and of course the accompanying ads. I'd bet "angry" or even "acting angry" would have been better words to use.

I think "acting angry" is probably right. It's the propagnda machine at work.

 

[Revoltingest]

One thing that struck me about this was in the headline and the emphasis on "China's fury."

Sounds like a cheezy kung fu movie.