U.S. demands accountability for China’s Uighur genocide
Sylvie Claire / September 2, 2022
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday welcomed the U.N. report on alleged human rights violations in China’s Xinjiang region, demanding that Beijing be held accountable for the genocide.
This report reinforces and reaffirms our serious concerns about the ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Chinese authorities against the Muslim Uighur minority, Blinken said in a statement.
Despite pressure from Beijing, which has strongly denounced the report, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released the long-awaited report on the situation in Xinjiang on Wednesday evening.
The UN report refers to the possibility of crimes against humanity in the region but does not specifically mention genocide.
We will continue to hold the Chinese authorities accountable and call on them to release all those held in unjustified detention (…) and to allow unrestricted access to independent investigators in Xinjiang, Tibet, and throughout China, the U.S. chief diplomat said.
Responses