The new US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas Greenfield, will hold a press conference at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, USA, on March 1, to mark the start of the US presidency of the United Nations Security Council for the month of March. Reuters / Mike Seegar, 2021
The United States, Germany and Britain clashed with China at the United Nations on Wednesday over the treatment of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang, and Beijing was angered by hosting a hypothetical event that China pressured UN member states to turn away from.
“We will continue to stand up and speak up until the Chinese government ends its crimes against humanity and the genocide of the Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang,” said US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas Greenfield, at the event attended by the organizers. About 50 people. Countries.
Western countries and rights groups accuse Xinjiang authorities of detaining and torturing Uighurs and other minorities in the camps. Beijing denies the allegations and describes the camps as vocational training institutions for combating religious extremism.
People are being tortured in Xinjiang. “Women are forcibly sterilized,” said Thomas Greenfield.
Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard said at al-Hadath that an estimated one million Uighurs and predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities are being arbitrarily detained.
In a memorandum to UN member states last week, China’s mission to the United Nations rejected the allegations as “lies and false accusations” and accused the organizers of “appropriating to provoke a confrontation with China.” Read on
While China urged countries “not to participate in this anti-China event,” a Chinese diplomat spoke at the event.
China has nothing to hide in Xinjiang. “Xinjiang is always open,” said Chinese diplomat Guo Jiakon. “Everyone is welcome to visit Xinjiang, but we are against any kind of investigations based on lies and presumptions of guilt.”
This event is organized by Germany, the USA and the UK and is jointly sponsored by Canada, Australia, New Zealand and many other European countries. The German ambassador to the United Nations, Christoph Heusgen, said that the countries that sponsored the event face “huge Chinese threats”, but he did not elaborate.
The British ambassador to the United Nations, Barbara Woodward, described the situation in Xinjiang as “one of the worst human rights crises of our time” and added: “The evidence … relates to a program of repression against certain ethnic groups.”
China called for “immediate, meaningful and unrestricted access” for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet.
Kenneth Ruth Bachelet, executive director of Human Rights Watch, asked her not to attend the event.
“I’m sure she’s busy. They know we’re all together. But I have a similar global mandate to stand up for human rights and I can’t think of anything more important than joining you here today,” Ruth said of the event.
Ravina Shamdasani, deputy spokeswoman for the UN Human Rights Office, said Bachelet, who has raised serious concerns about the human rights situation in Xinjiang and is seeking access, will not be able to attend.
“The High Commissioner continues to communicate with the Chinese authorities about the procedures for such a visit,” she said, adding that Bachelet’s office “continues to collect and analyze relevant information and monitor the situation closely.”
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