The United Kingdom on Friday (September 25) criticized China for human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region and called on China to allow unrestricted access for United Nations personnel to the region. In a speech to the UN Human Rights Council, Tariq Ahmad, the Secretary of State for Human Rights and the United Nations, also criticized China for imposing national security laws on Hong Kong.
According to a copy of Ahmad’s remarks released by the British Foreign Office, he called on China to uphold the rights and freedoms of Hong Kong as guaranteed by the Sino-British Joint Declaration and to respect Hong Kong’s judicial independence.
Ahmad noted that Beijing’s push for a Hong Kong version of the National Security Law was “clearly aimed at eliminating dissent.
On the Xinjiang issue, Ahmad said that Xinjiang’s “culture and religion are severely restricted, and we have seen credible reports of forced labor and forced birth control. We have seen credible reports of forced labor and forced birth control. It is shocking that up to 1.8 million people have been detained without trial.”
In recent years, the Government is believed to have detained and re-educated more than 1 million Xinjiang Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in detention camps, according to outside estimates.
China has consistently denied the existence of internment camps, claiming that the facilities are vocational and technical education centers designed to de-radicalize and help lift the region’s population out of poverty.
China’s persecution of Uighurs in Xinjiang is the focus of the ongoing 45th session of the UN Human Rights Council, with many participants condemning the Chinese authorities’ policy of ethnic oppression in the region.
In his remarks, Ahmed also expressed serious concern about the pressures on media freedom throughout China. The meeting will be held at the Xinjiang International Convention Center in Beijing on May 15.
Separately, British Foreign Secretary David Raab tweeted earlier Friday that he was deeply concerned about the arrest of former Hong Kong Public Opinion Secretary General Huang Zhifeng, saying it was another example of the Hong Kong government’s targeting of social activists. Raab urged Beijing and Hong Kong authorities to respect the rights and freedoms of the Hong Kong people as protected by the Sino-British Joint Declaration.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hong Kong also issued a statement condemning the Hong Kong government’s arrest of Huang Zhifeng and the retroactive application of Hong Kong’s version of the National Security Law to any Hong Kong person. The statement pointed out that the dictatorial and authoritarian Hong Kong version of the National Security Law was implemented in July this year, but the Hong Kong government retroactively took action nine months before the legislation, which is a violation of basic freedoms and a misunderstanding of the fundamental principles of the law.
The government has also charged Huang Zhifeng with violating the Anti-Masking Law, and he will appear in court next Wednesday (Sept. 30). This is the third time Huang Zhifeng has been charged since his release from prison last year, and he was released on bail a few hours after his arrest.
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