50 nations express grave concern over atrocities against Uyghurs in China's Xinjiang

New Delhi, Nov 01: For human rights violations of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in China's Xinjiang, fifty countries on Monday signed a statement during a UN debate calling for urgent attention to the atrocities against the Uyghurs.

"We are gravely concerned about the human rights situation in the People's Republic of China, especially the ongoing human rights violations of Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities in Xinjiang," read an issued statement.

Countries like the United States, the UK, Germany, France, Japan, Australia, Turkey, Israel, Guatemala and Somalia are among the 50 signatories.

The statement further said that the assessment finds that the scale of the arbitrary and discriminatory detention of Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities in Xinjiang "may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity".

The move is being seen as a symbolic victory for the countries as an earlier attempt to debate on the human rights issue in Xinjiang at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) was rejected by a majority of the body's 47 members after China's insistence.

It is to be recalled that UNHRC in a report in August this year had said that China was committing human rights violations in Xinjiang under the garb of its anti-terrorism and anti-extremism policies.

The fifty countries have urged Beijing to implement the recommendations of the OHCHR assessment which include "taking prompt steps to release all individuals arbitrarily deprived of their liberty in Xinjiang, and to urgently clarify the fate and whereabouts of missing family members and facilitate safe contact and reunion."

"Such severe and systematic violations of human rights cannot be justified on the basis of counter-terrorism. In view of the gravity of the OHCHR assessment, we are concerned that China has so far refused to discuss its findings," the statement added.

According to reports, about eleven million Uyghurs, a mostly Muslim, Turkic-speaking ethnic group, live in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.

Since 2017, the Chinese government has imprisoned more than one million people. The Chinese administration has subjected those not detained to intense surveillance, religious restrictions, forced labor, and forced sterilizations.