The UN’s report on China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims is bleak

Editorial: Virtually every arm of the Chinese state seems to have been geared against the cultural identity of the Uyghur people

The UN officials uncovered ‘credible evidence’ of torture (AFP/Getty)

United Nations investigators have found evidence of the abuse of Uyghur Muslim people possibly amounting to crimes against humanity. More surprisingly, the UN has published the report, albeit delayed by some spirited resistance by China.

It says a lot that things are so bad in the region that not even the objections of the world’s largest economy could prevent such serious and shameful indictment being levelled against the politburo in Beijing. If it were Myanmar or Zimbabwe, there would have been no question about the UN Human Rights Commission report being released: a superpower with a permanent seat on the UN Security Council is in a far stronger position to defend its interests. For once, the United Nations as an organisation has lived up to the ideals with which it was established almost eight decades ago.

The extent of the human rights abuses perpetrated by the government of China on its own people in Xinjiang Province is as grievous as anyone could have feared. Targeted as they are on one ethnic and religious group, they recall the worst abuses of their kind in human history.

The UN officials uncovered “credible evidence” of torture; arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim groups; forced medical treatment and adverse conditions of detention and “allegations of individual incidents of sexual and gender-based violence” (which means rape); and “indications of violations of reproductive rights through the coercive enforcement of family planning policies since 2017”.

Also detailed in the report is how “labour and employment schemes for purported purposes of poverty alleviation and prevention of ‘extremism’ ... may involve elements of coercion and discrimination on religious and ethnic grounds”.

Virtually every arm of the Chinese state seems to have been geared against the cultural identity of the Uyghur people, and some of the moderating language in the UN report – “allegations” and “may” – hardly detract from the horror show. Human rights groups and journalists have been warning for years about what has been going on. But an official report from an organisation of which China is a prominent member cannot be dismissed so easily – though Beijing certainly tries. Even by the standards of the Chinese Communist Party’s brazen propaganda, its protestations are unconvincing – “so-called suggestions were pieced together based on disinformation to serve political objectives”. The dishonour is obscene.

Sadly, the irony there is that the West finds itself in some difficulty in doing anything about what China has been up to. If the Chinese believe the UN report is being prepared as a precursor to decisive action, they will be relieved to see what few consequences will follow.

The uncomfortable fact is that China is not Sudan or Sri Lanka. It is too stubborn and paranoid to be persuaded to do the right thing and treat its own people with the respect they deserve and are entitled to, and it is too big to be coerced into doing so. With America, Europe and the rest of the free world preoccupied with Vladimir Putin’s war of aggression in Ukraine, taking on China as well is practically impossible. It is a dangerous moment, for the Uyghur people certainly, isolated as they are, but also for Hongkongers and Taiwan, continually harassed by mainland China.

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It is, in other words, difficult to see exactly how and where the pressure on China to honour human rights can be applied. Liz Truss, for example, is reported to want to declare China a “threat” to UK national security. It’s unlikely to trouble President Xi excessively.

China is the workshop of the world and America relies on Beijing to fund its deficits and supply its superconductors and supermarkets. China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which can amount to neocolonialism in parts of Africa and Asia, also helps provide diplomatic support in forums such as the UN when needed. And, frankly, the West cannot afford to have China pushed into a corner with Russia, bankrolling Putin, providing money, technology and weapons to prolong its cruel war on Ukraine.

Still, the Chinese leadership will now know that the world knows more and more about their crimes, and that they will be held responsible for them. The recent passing of Mikhail Gorbachev may also remind them that no empire and no superpower, no matter how mighty, can abuse its own people forever with impunity.