China May Have Committed Crimes Against Humanity: UN Report

The UN released a harsh report late Wednesday on human rights violations against ethnic Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in China, concluding that the country may have committed crimes against humanity.

The report found that mass detention in China's Xinjiang region from 2017 to 2019 was marked by credible documentation of torture, sexual violence and forced labor, as well as forced abortions and sterilizations.

"The extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim groups, pursuant to law and policy, in context of restrictions and deprivation more generally of fundamental rights enjoyed individually and collectively, may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity," the report said.

The 48-page document concluded that "serious human rights violations" were committed by the Chinese government against the Uyghurs and other Muslims under China's policies to fight terrorism and extremism.

However, just hours before the report was published, China's UN ambassador Zhang Jun said Beijing remained "firmly opposed" to its release.

"We haven't seen this report yet, but we are completely opposed to such a report. We do not think it will produce any good to anyone," Zhang said at a news conference. "We all know so well that the so-called Xinjiang issue is a completely fabricated lie out of political motivations, and its purpose is definitely to undermine China's stability and to obstruct China's development."

UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet brushed aside China's calls to withhold the report, which included interviews with former detainees from some of China's eight known detention centers in the Xinjiang region.

Bachelet released the findings on the final day of her term in office.

"To be perfectly honest, the politicization of these serious human rights issues by some states did not help," said Bachelet. "I appeal to the international community not to instrumentalize real, serious human rights issues for political ends, but rather to work to support efforts to strengthen the protection and promotion of human rights." -