Australia on Thursday (Feb. 4) called on the United Nations to launch an investigation into alleged human rights abuses by China in the Xinjiang region. Beijing‘s treatment of Uighur Muslims has come under sustained criticism from the international community. Again this comes after the U.S. government also expressed deep dismay at reports of sexual abuse of women in Xinjiang detention camps. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said China has extended an invitation to the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit Xinjiang, but is firmly opposed to “presumptive so-called ‘investigations'” in Xinjiang.
A BBC report Wednesday said women have been raped and sexually assaulted in detention camps for Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, China.
The report cited former detainees in the Xinjiang camps and a guard who said they were subjected to or witnessed systematic rape and torture in the camps. U.N. human rights experts say as many as one million Uighurs are believed to be in detention.
“These latest reports of systematic abuse of women are deeply troubling and raise serious questions about the treatment of Uighurs and other religious and ethnic minorities in Xinjiang,” Australian Foreign Minister’s spokeswoman Marise Payne said in a statement Thursday.
In this statement, Australia urged China to allow international observers, including UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, immediate and unrestricted access to Xinjiang.
Australia’s call could lead to a further deterioration in its relations with Beijing. Earlier, Canberra’s call for an investigation into the source of the new coronavirus drew the ire of Beijing and punished Australia on trade.
A State Department spokeswoman also said the U.S. was “deeply troubled” by the report, which contained “first-hand testimony.
The official also asked China to allow international observers to conduct an “immediate and independent investigation” into the rape allegations and other atrocities committed in Xinjiang.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said in Beijing that there are no so-called “re-Education camps” in Xinjiang and that “there is no such thing as systematic sexual abuse and mistreatment of women.
He said China has extended an invitation to the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit Xinjiang.
“We welcome people from all walks of Life in foreign countries, including relevant officials of the new U.S. administration, to visit Xinjiang and have a look around.” Wang Wenbin said, “At the same Time, we are also firmly opposed to any country, any person, interfering in internal affairs under the banner of human rights, or anyone advocating for a presumption-of-guilt-style so-called ‘investigation’ in Xinjiang.”
The Trump administration has imposed sanctions on Chinese Communist Party officials and entities involved in human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo found China guilty of “genocide” against the Uighurs in Xinjiang on the eve of his departure from office. Blinken, the new secretary of state in the Biden administration, said he agreed with that characterization.
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