Germany calls on China to ensure human rights in Xinjiang

Germany today called on China’s government to “immediately allow all residents of Xinjiang to fully exercise their human rights”, a day after the publication of a UN report on alleged abuses in the Chinese province against the Muslim minority of the Uighurs.

The long-awaited report “confirms that there is cause for concern,” the German foreign ministry said in a statement.

“All those arbitrarily detained must be released immediately,” the statement added, with Berlin calling on Beijing “to allow a new independent investigation into these allegations of serious human rights violations in China.”

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights presented yesterday its report on the situation in the Chinese province of Xinjiang and the treatment of the Uyghurs.

A mix of interviews and direct or indirect information, the report speaks of possible “crimes against humanity” in that province, but does not use the term “genocide” often cited by the US.

Although it does not appear to contain any particular revelations regarding what was already known about the situation in Xinjiang, the report puts the UN stamp on the accusations against the Chinese authorities that have been made for years, despite all the denials by Beijing.

China rejected the report, denouncing it as “a hodgepodge of disinformation and a political tool in the service of US and Western strategy, which aims to use Xinjiang to hinder China’s (development)”.

German Foreign Minister Analena Burbock has said she intends to take a tougher approach to human rights abuses accused of Beijing, at a time when China is Germany’s biggest economic partner.

SOURCE: APE-ME