WEB DESK
50 United Nations member countries yesterday issued a joint statement that condemned the Chinese government’s persecution of Uyghurs in Xinjiang. The 50 signatories included the United States, Britain, Japan, France, Germany, Australia, Israel, Turkey, Guatemala and Somalia. The statement expressed grave concern about the human rights situation in the People’s Republic of China, especially the ongoing human rights violations of Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.
The statement was presented to UN member states by Canada at a meeting of the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee, which focuses on human rights. It was the largest group of states to publicly denounce Beijing’s human rights violations in Xinjiang. In August, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released a report on human rights violations in China’s western region of Xinjiang.
The findings of the report concluded that under its anti-terrorism and anti-extremism policies, China was committing serious human rights violations. The countries also urged China to fully implement the recommendations of the UN report and to release all those ‘arbitrarily deprived of their liberty.