Over 60 parliamentarians from 18 parliaments have called for the UN to launch a Commission of Inquiry into alleged Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity taking place in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China (XUAR), ahead of the a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva next week.
The letter, addressed to the President of the Human Rights Council Nazhat Shameem Khan and Foreign Ministers of eight democratic states represented on the Human Rights Council, highlights mounting evidence that the Chinese government is “committing crimes against humanity in the XUAR, with credible sources finding indications of genocide” and criticses the Council for failing to end impunity for perpetrators of abuse. The signatories call on the UN to establish a Commission of Inquiry into the XUAR with a mandate to investigate allegations fo genocide and identify the perpetrators of such abuses.
Among the signatories are US Senator Bob Menendez, chair of the powerful Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; German MEP Reinhard Bütikofer, chair of the European Parliament’s China delegation; Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP, former leader of the the UK Conservative Party; Gen Nakatani, former Japanese Defence Minister; prominent German Green Margarete Bause MdB and Australian Labor Senator Kimberley Kitching. The letter is coordinated by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, an international cross-party network of parliamentarians pushing for democratic states to take a tougher stance on China.
The move coincides with reports that the Canadian government plans to lead criticism of China’s human rights abuses taking place in Xinjiang at the Council in a joint statement with the UK, US and other European countries. Next week’s meeting of the Human Rights Council will be the first since this year’s G7 Summit, where a joint communique singled out China for criticism on its abuse of human rights in Xinjiang. The calls come at the end of a week where the Czech Senate and Belgian Parliament joined a growing list of parliaments and governments that have made declarations on Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity taking place in the Uyghur Region, including the US, UK, Canada, the Netherlands and Lithuania.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP said:
“The UN Human Rights Council was founded to promote and protect human rights around the world. Today, it is used as a fig leaf for authoritarian regimes to hide the most egregious human rights abuses. We will not accept this. As mounting evidence indicates Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity taking place in the Uyghur Region, the UN must act to establish an independent inquiry into these abuses.”
Margarete Bause MdB said:
“The Human Rights Council should be the champion and guarantor of human rights globally. Yet so long as the Council declines to investigate the alleged crimes taking place in Xinjiang then it has failed to live up to this mission. There can be no turning away from the mounting evidence that documents these abuses. Only a UN led Commission of Inquiry can begin to bring hope of justice for the Uyghurs and other victims of persecution in the region.”
Representative Shiori Yamao said:
““The reports coming out of the Uyghur Region are truly horrific. There is an urgent need for a UN led inquiry to access the region and investigate these allegations. For too long the international community has turned a blind eye to the suffering of Uyghurs and other minority groups in China. This month the Human Rights Council has the opportunity to put this right and put Xinjiang at the top of the agenda.”
LETTER BEGINS
President of the UN Human Rights Council, Nazhat Shameem Khan,
Jakub Kulhánek, Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Czech Republic,
Jeppe Kofod, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Denmark,
Jean-Yves Le Drian, Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs for France,
Heiko Maas, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Germany,
Luigi Di Maio, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation for Italy,
Toshimitsu Motegi, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Japan,
Sigrid Kaag, Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Netherlands,
Dominic Raab, Minister of Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs for the United Kingdom
18 June 2021
Your excellencies,
As you prepare for the upcoming session of the Human Rights Council, we write to express our concern at the ongoing gross human rights violations taking place in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in the People’s Republic of China.
Mounting evidence documents the Chinese government’s brutal persecution of Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities in the XUAR. At least one million people are held in arbitrary detention, with inmates exposed to sexual abuse, torture and political indoctrination. Uyghurs and other minorities living in Xinjiang are subject to forced labour through the region’s widespread coercive labour transfer schemes. Since 2015, birth rates of minority groups have declined dramatically in the wake of forced sterilizations, forced abortions and draconian birth control policies against minority groups.
There is strong evidence that the Chinese Communist Party is committing crimes against humanity in the XUAR, with credible sources finding indications of genocide. Through the Genocide Convention, to which China is also a signatory, the international community is legally and morally obliged to prevent these most egregious human rights violations from ocurring. So long as China maintains its reservations to the International Court of Justice and is able to veto referrals to the International Criminal Court, the prospect of accountability for these allegations remains remote.
We urge you, as members of the UN Human Rights Council, to advocate for the establishment of an independent commission of inquiry on the gross human rights violations in the XUAR and to introduce a resolution to this effect at the upcoming session. A Commission of Inquiry on the XUAR should have a mandate to:
- Investigate alleged gross human rights violations against Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang, including allegations of Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide;
- Identify alleged perpetrators of human rights violations against individuals in or from Xinjiang and provide a road map for holding such perpetrators accountable, as well as to provide reparations for survivors;
- Make recommendations to end gross human rights violations in Xinjiang committed by the Chinese government;
- Report back regularly to the Council and other relevant UN bodies.
As members of the Human Rights Council, we urge you to undertake your responsibilities to put a stop to the crimes taking place in Xinjiang. Democratic states must partner together to bring an end to impunity for perpetrators of these abuses and prevent further atrocities from taking place.
We look forward to your response.
Yours sincerely,
Senator Eric Abetz
George Christensen MP
Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells
Cassy O’Connor MP
Senator Kimberley Kitching
Senator James Paterson
Members of the Parliament of Australia
Samuel Cogolati MP
Georges Dallemagne MP
Els Van Hoof MP
Members of the Belgian Federal Parliament
Hon. Irwin Cotler
Senator Pierre J. Dalphond
Garnett Genuis MP
Senator Thanh Hai Ngo
Tom Kmiec MP
Senator Marilou McPhedran
Members of the Parliament of Canada
Senator Pavel Fischer
Helena Langšádlová MP
Jan Lipavský MP
Members of the Parliament of the Czech Republic
Uffe Elbaek MP
Member of the Danish Folketing
Reinhard Bütikofer MEP
Sandro Gozi MEP
David Lega MEP
Miriam Lexmann MEP
Engin Eroglu MEP
Members of the European Parliament
Senator André Gattolin
Frédérique Dumas MP
Members of the French Parliament
Margarete Bause MdB
Michael Brand MdB
Gyde Jensen MdB
Members of the German Bundestag
Senator Malcolm Byrne
Senator Lisa Chambers
Senator Vincent P. Martin
Senator Michael McDowell
Senator David Norris
Senator Barry Ward
Members of the Irish Oireachtas
Enrico Borghi MP
Paolo Formentini MP
Roberto Giachetti MP
Senator Lucio Malan
Senator Roberto Rampi
Members of the Italian Parliament
Representative Gen Nakatani
Representative Shiori Yamao
Members of the Japanese Diet
Dovilė Šakalienė MP
Member of the Lithuanian Seimas
Tom van der Lee MP
Sjoerd Sjoerdsma MP
Members of the States General of the Netherlands
Simon O’Connor MP
Louisa Wall MP
Members of the New Zealand Parliament
David Josefsson MP
Elisabet Lann
Members of the Swedish Riksdag
Lisa Mazzone MP
Fabian Molina MP
Yves Nidegger MP
Nicolas Walder MP
Members of the Federal Assembly of Switzerland
Lord David Alton
Rushanara Ali MP
Baroness Natalie Bennett
Janet Daby MP
Sir Iain Duncan Smith
Nusrat Ghani MP
Wera Hobhouse MP
Baroness Jenny Jones
Baroness Helena Kennedy QC
Tim Loughton MP
Layla Moran MP
Bob Seely MP
Stephen Timms MP
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
Representative Tom Malinowski
Senator Bob Menendez
Members of the United States Congress
LETTER ENDS
