A report published by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on August 31 of this year indicates that the Asian country has abuses against ethnic groups, arbitrary arrests, torture, forced medical treatment, among others.
The UN accuses China of using national security laws to suppress the rights of minorities and establish arbitrary detentions. In addition, the report ensures that some prisoners were subjected to patterns of ill-treatment that included incidents of sexual violence.
The report also speaks of forced medical treatment and the discriminatory application of family planning and birth control policies. Likewise, the interviewees said that they received one tablet per day that was compulsorily consumed in the vocational training centers.
The UN suggested that China take immediate steps to release all people arbitrarily deprived of their liberty and suggested that some of Beijing’s actions could amount to “crimes against humanity.” While the document does not indicate the number of people who have been detained by the government, human rights groups estimate that more than 1,000,000 Uyghurs have been detained for inclusion in “re-education camps.”
The United Nations Human Rights report has concluded that China committed serious human rights violations against the Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim communities. The Uyghurs, followers of Islam, see themselves as an ethnicity and culture closer to Central Asia than to China. They mainly live in Xinjiang, which is officially called Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
China denies the accusations of human rights abuses, calling them a “sham.” Furthermore, they noted that their counter-terrorism efforts are carried out in accordance with the rule of law and is in no way about suppression of ethnic minorities.
As far as we are concerned, China may be a valuable trading partner, but reports cast it as a poor model for democracy. As a country we must be alert and not make mistakes just because of the anxiety of selling meat and other products to new markets. Paraguay needs to open up to trade, but China is not the panacea as the romantics suggest, having as many pros as cons in its favor.
The Chinese Government’s assessment and response are available here: https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/country-reports/ohchr-assessment-human-rights-concerns-xinjiang-uyghur-autonomous-region
