Source: Amnesty International –
- Recommendations from United Nations report ignored by China
- New testimony reveals Muslim ethnic minorities in Xinjiang still suffering repression
- “Families of detainees continue to seek truth, justice and freedom for all those suffering in the Uyghur region” – Sarah Brooks
Families of detainees in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region have told Amnesty International of their continued suffering, three years after a major UN report said China was responsible for “serious human rights violations”.
On 31 August 2022, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released a historic assessment concluding that serious human rights violations in the Uyghur region “may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity”. In a major report published in 2021, Amnesty International also found that China’s treatment of Muslim ethnic minorities in the Uyghur region amounted to crimes against humanity.
However, the international community and the UN has yet to act on these findings. The Chinese government also continues to intimidate and silence victims’ families, and maintain repressive laws and policies in the region.
Lives have been ruined, families separated and communities dismantled by the Chinese authorities’ continuing cruelty
Sarah Brooks, Amnesty International’s China Director
“Three years after the UN report concluded that China was responsible for grave human rights violations in Xinjiang, it is shameful that the international community has failed to act,” said Sarah Brooks, Amnesty International’s China Director.
“Lives have been ruined, families separated and communities dismantled by the Chinese authorities’ continuing cruelty. Today, families of detainees continue to seek truth, justice and freedom for all those suffering in the Uyghur region.
“Another year of inaction has passed. The international community must honour the calls of survivors and act now to end repression in the Uyghur region.”
Amnesty International has long documented the crushing repression faced by Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities in the Uyghur region. In 2021, Amnesty International’s global petition – signed by more than 323,000 people across 184 countries and territories – called for the release of the hundreds of thousands of Muslim minority men and women arbitrarily detained and subjected to mass internment, torture and persecution in the Uyghur region, and accountability for the abuses.