Chinese U.N. Ambassador Zhang Jun is pushing back against the new United Nations Human Rights report on the abuse of Uyghur Muslims, claiming the information is false.
"We are firmly opposed to such a report," he said in a video tweeted by Chinese Mission to UN on Aug. 31. "We all know so well that the so-called Xinjiang issue is completely a fabricated lie out of political motivations. Its purpose is to undermine China's stability and obstruct China's development."
The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) released a report Aug. 31 addressing “crimes against humanity” concerns dating to 2017 that members of the Uyghur community and other ethnic minorities in China have disappeared, been sent to "re-education" camps in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR), or been subjected to forced labor, sexual violence, or other abuse. The OHCHR assessed these allegations by analyzing official documents and satellite imagery and conducting interviews with 40 people "with direct and firsthand knowledge of the situation in XUAR."
The Chinese government has issued official statements arguing that “Xinjiang-related issues are in essence about countering violent terrorism and separatism” and that all actions have been "in accordance with law," according to the UN report. The Chinese government has emphasized that the local government in XUAR “fully respects and safeguards civil rights including freedom of religious belief.”
The report notes that the Chinese government's definition of "extremism" is broad and subjective, and, therefore, could be used to label personal choices related to religious freedom as "extremism." The Chinese government's system of countering terrorism and "extremism" involves determining whether a person's crime was "serious," which would then merit punishment through the criminal justice system, or "minor," in which case the person would be put through "education" and "rehabilitation."
Those who committed "minor" crimes would be sent to a "Vocational Education and Training Center" (VETC), which the Chinese government says has been closed since 2019.
The people interviewed by OHCHR who had been detained in VETC facilities said they did not have access to a lawyer at any time in the process and they were not given an alternate option, despite claims from the Chinese government that VETC facilities were an alternative to jail time, according to the report.
All the interviewees said they were not allowed to leave the facilities and visit home. About half of the interviewees were allowed occasional visits from or phone calls to family members under heavy surveillance, while the other half said they had no contact with their families, who did not know where they were.
Some of the interviewees described being prohibited to share any information about the facilities after they were released and having to sign documents to that effect. On average the interviewees spent between two and 18 months in the VETC facilities, although none of them were informed of how long they would be there when they were placed.
Based on these accounts, the OHCHR determined that the usage of VETC facilities constitutes a form of deprivation of liberty, which, according to international human rights law, cannot be arbitrary.
Two-thirds of the detainees interviewed by OHCHR described "treatment that would amount to torture and/or other forms of ill treatment, either in VETC facilities themselves or in the context of processes of referral to VETC facilities," according to the report.
The detainees described being beaten with batons, including with electric batons while strapped to a chair, undergoing interrogation while water was poured on their faces, being held in solitary confinement for prolonged periods of time, and being forced to sit on small stools for long periods of time without moving.
Many of the interviewees described being constantly hungry, losing significant amounts of weight, being deprived of sleep, and not being allowed to speak their native language or practice religion, including praying.
The interviewees said they had to memorize "red songs" and other official material of the Chinese Communist Party, with one former detainee stating, "We were forced to sing patriotic song after patriotic song every day, as loud as possible and until it hurts, until our faces become red, and our veins appeared on our face.”
Most of the interviewees also stated that they were forced to take unknown medications regularly while they were detained, which made them feel "drowsy." Some of the women also described instances of sexual humiliation and sexual violence while they were detained, such as being forced to perform oral sex on a guard during an interrogation.
The report states that the detainees' accounts "pointed to violations of the fundamental obligation to treat individuals deprived of their liberty humanely and with dignity and of the absolute prohibition of torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" and that their treatment in the VETC facilities violated "the basic standards for the humane treatment of detainees." The report expressed concern over the lack of oversight of these facilities and the Chinese government's response to allegations of human rights violations.
The report concludes that "descriptions of detentions in the VETCs in the period between 2017 and 2019 gathered by OHCHR were marked by patterns of torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, other violations of the right of persons deprived of their liberty to be treated humanely and with dignity, as well as violations of the right to health.
Allegations were also made of instances of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in VETC facilities, including rape, which also appear credible and would in themselves amount to acts of torture or other forms of ill treatment.
