Campaigners urge UN rights chief to act on China Xinjiang abuse report

21/6/2024 6:15

        Campaign groups called on the United Nations human rights chief on Thursday to take more action over what they said were documented abuses against
        Uyghurs and other Muslims in China's Xinjiang region.
        
        The groups, including the World Uyghur Congress and Amnesty International said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk had not followed up on a 2022 report by his own predecessor that found China may have committed crimes against humanity.
        
        China defended its record and dismissed the groups' statement given at a meeting in the Geneva headquarters of the U.N. Human Rights Council.
        
        Volker did not attend the meeting and his office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. After taking office in October 2022, the Austrian former lawyer said he stood by the report and wanted to engage China over the findings.
        
        The August 2022 report, produced under the leadership of the last commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, said the extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of Uyghurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang may be an international crime.