Western nations and rights groups accuse China of massive crimes against Uighur minority

An estimated 1 million people or more have been confined in camps in Xinjiang. Photo / AP

Human rights groups and Western nations led by the United States, Britain and Germany have accused China of massive crimes against its Uighur minority and demanded unimpeded access for UN experts at a virtual meeting today denounced by China as "politically motivated" and based on "lies".

China's UN Mission sent notes to many of the UN's 193 member nations last week urging them not to participate in the "anti-China event".

And China's UN Ambassador Zhang Jun sent text messages to the 15 Western co-sponsors of the meeting, expressing shock at their support, urging them to "think twice" and withdraw it.

He warned that if they didn't, it would be "harmful to our relationship and co-operation".

At the meeting, Britain's UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward called the situation in Xinjiang "one of the worst human rights crises of our time".

"The evidence, from a growing number of credible sources — including satellite imagery, survivor testimony and publicly available Chinese Government documents — is of grave concern," said Woodward, who previously was the UK ambassador in China.

"The evidence points to a programme of repression of specific ethnic groups. Expressions of religion have been criminalised and Uighur language and culture are discriminated against systematically and at scale."

In recent years, an estimated one million people or more have been confined in camps in Xinjiang, according to foreign governments and researchers. Most are Uighurs, a largely Muslim ethnic group.

China's UN Ambassador Zhang Jun messaged the 15 Western co-sponsors of the meeting, expressing shock at their support. Photo / AP

Authorities have been accused of imposing forced labour, systematic forced birth control and torture.

The Chinese government has flatly rejected the allegations. It has characterised the camps, which it says are now closed, as vocational training centres to teach Chinese language, job skills and law in order to support economic development and combat extremism. China saw a wave of Xinjiang-related terrorist attacks through 2016.

Organisers said there were 152 participants in today's event, including 51 countries, and speaker after speaker called on China to end its abuses against the Uighurs.

Germany's UN Ambassador Christoph Heusgen thanked "all the co-sponsors who came together despite some massive Chinese threats".

He urged them to remain committed "until the Uighurs can live again in freedom, until they are no longer detained, no longer victims of forced labour and other human rights abuses, until they can exercise freedom of religion and freedom of speech."

Heusgen appealed to China to respect the Universal Declaration of Human Rights "and tear down the detention camps".

"If you have nothing to hide, why don't you finally grant unimpeded access to the (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights?" he asked.

Uighurs and other students listen to an instructor during a class at the Xinjiang Islamic Institute, as seen during a government-organised visit for foreign journalists. Photo / AP

US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the Biden administration "will keep standing up and speaking out until China's government stops its crime against humanity and the genocide of Uighurs and other minorities in Xinjiang."

"And we will keep working in concert with our allies and our partners until China's government respects the universal human rights of all its people," she said.

Uighur human rights activist Jewher Ilhan spoke about her father Ilham Tohti, a noted economist who has called for autonomy for Xinjiang and is serving a life sentence on separatist-related charges.

"We don't even know if he's alive," she said.

"Hundreds of thousands, even millions of Uighurs are still being targeted," said Ilhan, who now lives in the United States.

"The fate of my father and my community is in the world's hands now. We all need to join together and take action to stop this humanitarian crisis from continuing."

A Chinese diplomat countered, saying: "I make it clear that China is here to tell the truth, it doesn't mean in any way we recognise this event."

He then showed a short video and said: "The truth is, it's not about human rights in Xinjiang, it's about using Xinjiang as a political tool to contain China. The US and some of its allies make a presumption of guilt, and then fabricate so-called evidence."

A tour guide stands near a display showing images of people at locations described as vocational training centres in southern Xinjiang. Photo / AP

Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth, whose organisation recently concluded that China's atrocities amount to the crime against humanity of persecution, said the challenge is what to do about it.

"Beijing clearly calculates that through censorship, propaganda, intimidation, and threats it can somehow avoid accountability," he said, pointing many actions including its "extraordinary lengths of disinviting people" from today's event, its "endless charade" that has prevented Human Rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet from visiting Xinjiang, and UN inaction.

Roth expressed disappointment that Bachelet, who was invited to the event, turned down the invitation.

"I'm sure she's busy. We all are. But I have a similar global mandate to defend human rights and I couldn't think of anything more important to do than to join you here today. I certainly wasn't deterred by the commute — all the way to my laptop," he said.

"The good news is that the tide seems to be turning," he said, pointing to more countries condemning China's crimes. But he said more must be done.

An Uighur instructor stands near a window during a class at the Xinjiang Islamic Institute during a government-organised visit for foreign journalists. Photo / AP

Roth called for a UN Human Rights Council resolution on Xinjiang, for moving discussions to the UN Security Council, for seeking avenues to justice including the use of universal jurisdiction, and for considering creation of an international investigative mechanism similar to those for Syria and Myanmar.

"The true test of the significance of today's event will be the follow-up steps that we all take," he said.

Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard said the persecution of the Uighurs is "a critical test" for the international human rights system to investigate allegations of "massive violations" by a government against its own people and hold those responsible accountable.

She called "the silence, fear and timidity" of Bachelet's office and the UN Secretariat "frankly unacceptable and a breach of their mandate, as are the silence of many states."

Callamard said supporting a multilateral response to what is happening in Xinjiang is not about "picking sides in a fight with China or supporting the US or anyone else, it is about fighting for human rights."