China brushes aside possible UN resolution on Uyghur rights abuses

Geneva, Sep 22 (EFE).- A possible United Nations resolution condemning alleged human rights violations against Uyghurs in China will have no global impact, a Chinese official said on Thursday.

However, Xu Guixiang, a Xinjiang government spokesman, told reporters in Geneva that China would take “countermeasures” to “fight” against the possible resolution on the rights situation in the western Xinjiang region.

“Such a resolution will have no influence, just like the recent report by the UN human rights office,” Xu said.

“We would take resolute action against it, because Xinjiang is not what many people say. It is a wonderful place that we want to show the world,” Xu said.

The spokesperson led a delegation of scholars and religious leaders to Geneva.

At the press conference, the delegation reiterated the official Chinese position that the UN report on Xinjiang, published on Aug.31, was misleading.

The representatives said they were open to UN officials visiting the region like the former UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet did in May.

Rights groups believe China has detained more than one million Uyghurs in internment camps and sentenced hundreds of thousands to prison terms.

China has vehemently denied the charges, saying the government has admitted them to “re-education camps.”

The Chinese government claims it was running the training centers in Xinjiang to counter extremism.

Bachelet, the then-UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, released the result of her investigation in a report just minutes before her term ended at midnight on Aug.31.

The 45-page report concluded that “serious human rights violations have been committed” in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region under counter-terrorism and counter-extremism strategies.

The damning report also said was “large-scale imprisonment and deprivation of liberty” in Xinjiang between 2017 and 2019.

Sources close to the UN Human Rights Council say a group of Western countries will table a resolution against China.

Members will vote on the resolution at the end of the meetings at an ongoing UN human rights council in Geneva on Oct.7.

The resolution might condemn the detention of Uyghurs and other Muslims in the Xinjiang region, which constitutes crimes against humanity.

However, observers say the promoters will publicize the possible resolution only if it manages to secure the majority in the council. EFE

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