Truth about  human rights violations and concentration camps in Uyghur belt can be settled if Beijing allows unfettered access to the region, but such access is denied so far.

At the UN General Assembly on 29 Oct, Karen Pierce, a representative for the UK issued a statement on behalf of 23 countries raising concerns over gross human rights abuses in Xinjiang: “(There are) credible reports of mass detention, efforts to restrict cultural and religious practices, mass surveillance disproportionately targeting ethnic Uyghurs, and other human rights violations and abuses in the region.”
The 23 countries, including the United States, Canada, Japan and Australia, all called on China to “uphold its national and international obligations and commitments to respect human rights,” as well as to provide access to Xinjiang for international monitors.
Shortly afterwards, Belarus, Beijing’s ally, issued a statement on behalf of 54 countries voicing approval of China’s “counter-terrorism” program in Xinjiang. The joint statement spoke positively of the results of counter-terrorism and de-radicalization measures in Xinjiang and noted that these measures have effectively safeguarded the basic human rights of people of all ethnic groups.
Russia, Egypt, Bolivia, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, Democratic Republic of Congo and Serbia were amongst the signatories to the statement.

Human Rights groups have repeatedly said based on highly credible sources that more than one million Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic minorities have been rounded up in internment camps in Xinjiang.

The two statements highlight the global divide on China’s human rights record — particularly as Beijing moves to flex its diplomatic and economic clout.
Human Rights groups have repeatedly said based on highly credible sources that more than one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic minorities have been rounded up in internment camps in Xinjiang. Beijing claims that these Xinjiang camps as “vocational education centers” that are necessary to counter religious extremism and terrorism.
The Munich-based World Uyghur Congress (WUC) has applauded the statement from the UK, but said that the response from the U.N. has been “far from adequate.” “Although we have been deeply disappointed from the response from the United Nations system, which is obligated to address abuses on this scale, it is encouraging to see voices still speaking out loudly,” WUC President Dolkun Isa said in a statement on Oct. 30.
Belarus called on countries who supported the critical statement to stop “politicizing the human rights issue” and making “baseless accusations against China.”
Obviously, the truth about the accusations can be settled if Beijing would allow unfettered access to Xinjiang. But such access has been refused.
The Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, Wednesday, Oct. 30, passed a bill that directs the government to prepare reports on China’s treatment of Uyghurs. Introduced by Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) in January and passed in the Senate on Sept. 11, the amended the Senate Bill 178 – the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act, to include sanctions and export restrictions to prevent U.S. technology supply chains from being utilized to help China surveil and identify people through facial or voice recognition, or biometrics. The bill must now pass through the intelligence and judiciary committees before President Donald Trump signs it into law.
The Washington-based Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP), welcoming the congressional action, said: “The House action on this bill sends a strong message that all branches of the U.S. government are taking action to counter the human rights abuses taking place in East Turkestan.”
Speaking at a hearing in Washington held by the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, (CECC), witnesses highlighted reports of a widespread system of forced labor in the XUAR, which requires Uyghurs and other ethnic minority Muslims to work in the production of textiles, food, and light manufacturing.
In addition to non-detainees, the system has been reported to rely on forced labour from those held in the XUAR’s vast network of camps, which reportedly hold 1.5 million people, accused of harbouring “strong religious views” and “politically incorrect” ideas since April 2017.
Adrian Zenz, an independent researcher who studies China’s minority policies, avers that the forced labor system is “more shocking” than that of the internment camps. They are coerced into military, political, and vocational training for the purpose of working in officially subsidized companies as part of a “business of oppression.” Those who refuse work assignments are regularly threatened with internment or further detention, creating a situation in which “forced labor is equated with salvation.”
China is the world’s largest cotton producer; some 84 percent of China’s cotton is produced in the XUAR. Chinese-made garments made by forced labor are sold worldwide, US including.
The U.S. Department of Commerce has blacklisted 28 governmental or commercial entities from China saying it believes they are implicated in rights abuses in the XUAR; the State Department has clamped visa restrictions on Chinese officials seen as “responsible for, or complicit in, the detention and abuse of Uyghurs, Kazakhs, or other members of Muslim minority groups” in the region.
Uighur leaders while welcoming these moves, contend that more needs to be done to “stop a rogue government that has learned to dodge the system. In effect, it is a call to plug tariff loopholes that have enabled Beijing products made of forced labour to penetrate the US market.

…..By POREG TEAM