MalayMail/AFP-Oct 7

The UN Human Rights Council on Thursday voted against debating alleged widespread abuses in China’s Xinjiang region after intense lobbying by Beijing, in a heavy setback for Western nations. The United States and allies last month brought a draft decision targeting China to the UN’s top rights body, seeking as a bare minimum a discussion on Xinjiang. The move came after former UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet released her long-delayed Xinjiang report, citing possible crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the far-western region. Western countries thought that by going no further than simply seeking to talk about the findings, enough other nations would not block putting it on the agenda. But in a moment of knife-edge drama, countries on the 47-member council in Geneva voted 19-17 against holding a debate on human rights in Xinjiang, with 11 nations abstaining. Amnesty International branded the vote farcical, while Human Rights Watch (HRW) said it betrayed abuse victims. The nations voting against a debate were Bolivia, Cameroon, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Gabon, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Kazakhstan, Mauritania, Namibia, Nepal, Pakistan, Qatar, Senegal, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Venezuela. The draft decision was put forward by the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Turkey, among others. One Western diplomat stressed that regardless of the outcome, “the number one objective has been fulfilled” in putting Xinjiang in the spotlight. Bachelet’s report, published minutes before her term ended on August 31, highlighted “credible” allegations of widespread torture, arbitrary detention and violations of religious and reproductive rights. It brought UN endorsement to long-running allegations that Beijing detained more than one million Uyghurs and other Muslims and forcibly sterilized women. Read more at: https://www.malaymail.com/news/world/2022/10/07/malaysia-among-11-nations-that-abstained-from-un-vote-on-debate-about-chinas-treatment-of-uyghur-muslims/32202