France, the United States, Germany, Canada and the United Kingdom have spoken out in recent days against the persecution of Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang region. According to activists and UN human rights experts, there are at least one million Uighurs, a Muslim minority, held in so-called re-education camps in the Western Autonomous Region.
Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French foreign minister, spoke before the United Nations Human Rights Council on Wednesday about an “institutionalized regime of repression” by the Chinese authorities. The Chinese ambassador to the United Nations responded on Wednesday that Western countries should not get involved in “baseless accusations” in domestic issues.
An estimated 12 million Uyghurs live in China, the vast majority of them in Xinjiang. Human rights organizations say that more than a million members of the minority are being held in a “re-education camp”, where they are reported to be tortured, raped and forced into forced labor. (Norwegian Refugee Council)
A copy of this article also appeared on nrc.next on February 25, 2021
