Hundreds gather in front of U.N. demanding China be held accountable for human rights violations
Record ID:
1363065
Hundreds gather in front of U.N. demanding China be held accountable for human rights violations
- Title: Hundreds gather in front of U.N. demanding China be held accountable for human rights violations
- Date: 6th November 2018
- Summary: MAN HOLDING A PICTURE OF FAMILY MEMBERS
- 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: LVA00295DCCP3
- 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. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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