Human rights defenders are tortured and abused in China, says UN expert

An expert from the UN highlighted concerns that activists in China were being abused and sentenced to long prison terms or house arrest for doing just peaceful human rights work. These individuals were denied all kinds of medical treatments and care and were not allowed to even contact their lawyers or family members.

As international support builds for an investigation into alleged crimes against humanity in the northwest region of Xinjiang, the Chinese government’s insistence that “national sovereignty” should shield it from scrutiny seems increasingly desperate. China’s government policies are repressive and this can be seen very well through the conditions of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim communities which have accelerated the killings, torture, mass arbitrary detention, and family separations. Evidence of these crimes, compiled from survivor interviews, satellite images, government detention records, and leaked documents, has piled up, leading to growing international pressure for investigations. Statements from 50 United Nations human rights experts and hundreds of civil society groups have supported these findings.

Chinese officials have fought hard to keep this issue out of the United Nations. Not only have they recruited other highly abusive governments to back their efforts, but they have also bought and bullied other states to support them. Beijing’s tactics range from “vaccine diplomacy” to shamelessly signing governments on to official statements, daring other states – often ones in desperate need of foreign aid – to opt-out and risk China’s wrath.

Mary Lawlor, who is a UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders says, that she has received countless reports indicating that the mistreatment of human rights defenders in Chinese custody remains endemic and may amount to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, despite the plethora of documentation and recommendations from UN mechanisms over the years, including from the Committee Against Torture. However, the expert and officials are looking critically into this matter.

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Israeli settlers have once again attacked religious minorities in the region, this time targeting a church in East Jerusalem.

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