Hundreds gather in front of U.N. demanding China be held accountable for human rights violations

Record ID: 1363064

  • Title: Hundreds gather in front of U.N. demanding China be held accountable for human rights violations
  • Date: 6th November 2018
  • Summary: PROTESTERS HOLDING SIGNS IN FRONT OF UNITED NATIONS (SOUNDBITE) (English) PRESIDENT OF THE WORLD UYGHUR CONGRESS, DOLKUN ISA, SAYING: "Today, from 1 million to 3 million people are in concentration camps. There are suffering. We have not got access to family members. We have not got any contact with family members. I can say, 99 percent of Uyghur who live in exile have lost contact with family members. So that is why we are here gathering to protest the Chinese government's brutal crackdown on the east Turkestan, to the Uyghur people, the Tibetan people." SIGN SHOWING CHINESE PRESIDENT SITTING ON SKULLS AND "UYGHUR" WRITTEN ON IT PROTEST IN FRONT U.N. IN PROGRESS VARIOUS OF PEOPLE HOLDING A SIGN READING (English) "NEVER AGAIN?! 1 MILLION UYGHUR IN CHINESE CONCENTRATION CAMPS IN 2018!" (SOUNDBITE) (English) CITIZEN OF CANADA AND UYGHUR, ABLINIT KERIM, SAYING: "Unfortunately, the United Nations Human Rights Committee become a joke. All countries, many countries with horrible human rights records is a permanent member of United Nations Human Rights Committee. It is very saddening. We want United Nations to stand up to a country like China. Being the voice of voiceless people such as the Uyghur people." BANNER WITH PICTURES OF MISSING PEOPLE PEOPLE HOLDING BANNERS WITH PICTURES OF MISSING PEOPLE / UNITED NATIONS BUILDING MAN WAVING FLAG PEOPLE PROTESTING ON PLACE DES NATIONS SIGN WITH RED HAND PRINT ON TURKESTAN AND READING (English) "CHINA STOP TURNING EAST TURKESTAN INTO TOTAL SURVEILLANT STATE" (SOUNDBITE) (English) CITIZEN OF CANADA AND UYGHUR, SARAH SUZUK, SAYING: "I just want to raise awareness, basically, especially because we never had so many Uyghur people and people from east Turkestan show up in one place before, so I just want the people and the world to recognize who we are." PROTEST IN PROGRESS SIGN READING (English) "FREEDOM FOR UYGHUR" / PEOPLE ON STAGE WAVING FLAGS SIGN READING (English) HUMANITY AT STAKE, WE MUST GET UNITED BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE" (SOUNDBITE) (English) CITIZEN OF FINLAND AND UYGHUR, PAZILAITI SIMAYIJIANG, SAYING: "I think, I do have a little hope, but it is hard sometimes to maintain the hope. What I want is independence and I want to someday like go back to my country and live there because it is in me, that I am Uyghur, so." PEACE SIGN ON THE GROUND / PEOPLE HOLDING SIGNS AND FLAGS WOMEN HOLDING SIGN READING (English) TIBETAN WOMEN WILL NEVER GIVE UP!!!" VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WAVING FLAGS
  • Embargoed: 20th November 2018 15:41
  • Keywords: Uyghurs Tibetans Turkestan human rights violations reeducation camps
  • Location: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
  • City: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
  • Country: Switzerland
  • Topics: Government/Politics,United Nations
  • Reuters ID: LVA00395DCCP3
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Hundreds of Uyghur, Turkestani Muslims and Tibetans gathered in front of the United Nations in Geneva on Tuesday (November 6) to ask the Human Rights Council to Hold China accountable during its review.
    A U.N. panel of human rights experts said on August 10 it had received many credible reports that 1 million ethnic Uyghurs in China were being held in what resembles a "massive internment camp that is shrouded in secrecy."
    According to the president of the World Uyghur Congress, Dolkun Isa, there are between 1 and 3 million in these camps. "We ask the United Nations to take concrete actions and hold responsibility, hold accountable to the Chinese government", he said.
    China has said in the past that Xinjiang faces a threat from Islamist militants and separatists. It rejects all accusations of mistreatment and denies mass internment, although Chinese officials have said some citizens guilty of minor offences were being sent to vocational centres to work.
    At a debate at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva - which reports on human rights in each U.N. member state every five years and is reviewing China's record this week -- Beijing said it protected the freedoms of ethnic minorities.
    A Uyghur who came from Canada to take part of the protest, Ablinit Kerim, said the Human Rights Council has become "a joke".
    "We want the United Nations to stand up to a countries like China. Being the voice of voiceless people such as the Uyghur people", Kerim said.
    During the debate, western countries spoke out against what they described as a deterioration in China's human rights since the last review, especially over its treatment of Muslims in the western province of Xinjiang and called on China to close down detention camps.
    Others, like Pazilaiti Simayijiang, asked for independence and wants to go back and live in their homeland one day.
    Suzuk and Simayijiang both lost contact with one or several family members in the past few months.
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