News Mania Desk / Piyal Chatterjee / 23rd October 2024
China blasted the United States, Australia, and 13 other nations for disregarding the “living hell” in the Gaza Strip after they attacked China at the UN on Tuesday for alleged human rights violations in Tibet and Xinjiang. At the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva and the United Nations in New York, clashes over China’s treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslims have been frequent.
A U.N. report released two years ago said China’s “arbitrary and discriminatory detention” of Uyghurs and other Muslims in its Xinjiang region may constitute crimes against humanity. It said that “serious human rights violations” had been committed. “We urge China to uphold the international human-rights obligations that it has voluntarily assumed, and to implement all U.N. recommendations,” Australia’s U.N. Ambassador James Larsen told the U.N. General Assembly’s human rights committee.
“This includes releasing all individuals arbitrarily detained in both Xinjiang and Tibet, and urgently clarifying the fate and whereabouts of missing family members,” Larsen stated. Australia, the US, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Japan, Lithuania, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, and Britain were among the countries he represented. Beijing has long refuted any claims that Uyghurs have been mistreated. On Tuesday, China’s ambassador to the United Nations, Fu Cong, charged that the Western governments were using “lies to provoke confrontations.”
“The human-rights situation that should gather the most attention at the committee this year is undoubtedly that of Gaza,” he said. “Australia and the U.S., among a few others, played down this living hell, while unleashing attacks and smears against the peaceful and tranquil Xinjiang.”
On October 7, 2023, Hamas militants from Palestine assaulted Israel, murdering 1,200 people and kidnapping another 250 more. Israel, a U.S. ally, reacted in Gaza, where officials report that nearly all residents of the 2.3 million-person territory have been displaced and that over 42,000 people have been killed.
Last month, independent U.N. human rights experts blasted primarily Western nations for backing Israel in spite of its conduct in Gaza. “Washington is calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas, and for Israel to allow more aid into the enclave,” deputy U.S. Ambassador Lisa Carty said in her statement before the committee. “We continue to condemn (China’s) ongoing atrocities in Xinjiang, repression of Tibetans, crackdown on Hong Kong’s democratic institutions, and use of transnational repression to silence those abroad,” said Carty.
“No country has a perfect human-rights record. But no country is above fair scrutiny of its human-rights obligations,” Australia’s Larsen said. “It is incumbent on all of us not to undermine international human-rights commitments that benefit us all, and for which all states are accountable.”
