India must condemn Uyghur genocide by China: Experts
Activists also criticised former High Commissioner of the United Nations Human Rights Office, Michele Bachelet, for protecting the Chinese administration from criticism over such violations during her tenure that ended on August 31.
FollowExpressing deep concerns over rising human rights violations in China, Human Rights activists globally have urged democracies, including India, to condemn and impose sanctions on Communist China and its leadership for its unabated genocide of and persecution of Uyghurs in East Turkistan, called Xinjiang.
At an online event organised by Delhi-based think-tank Law and Society Alliance, the activists also criticised former High Commissioner of the United Nations Human Rights Office Michele Bachelet for protecting the Chinese administration from criticism over such violations during her tenure that ended on August 31.
Germany's Munich-based World Uyghur Congress president Dolkun Isa said the report by the United Nations on the atrocities on Uyghurs has come out 'very late' and is 'very weak' in its language.
He said that the report has failed to meet the expectations of Uyghurs suffering under the Chinese Communist Party's thumb, but it at least confirms what the Uyghur community has been saying for the past few years about the scale and severity of abuse against it.
Since 2017, the World Uyghur Congress estimated over three million Uyghurs, Kazaks and other ethnic minorities have been detained in concentration camps in East Turkistan, where they are tortured and exposed to violence like systematic rapes and forced sterilisation.
These concentration camps are part of a larger attempt by the People's Republic of China (PRC) to destroy the unique identities and culture of Uyghurs and Turkic communities.Â
Isa was of the view that the PRC is trying to spread fake news and disinformation, as well as use its economic might and diplomatic capacity to bury the truth about its genocide in East Turkistan.Â
Democracies like India must recognize the Uyghur genocide, the continued use of forced labour by Communist China and the reality of Uyghurs being targeted by Chinese transnational suppression, Isa added.
Washington DC-based Centre for Uyghur Studies Executive Director Abdulhakim Idris said: "There is ample evidence now of the atrocities committed by the CCP against Uyghurs, and no one can deny that now. All religious activities of Uyghurs are banned in East Turkistan. The CCP, for a long time, has strived for the sinicization of all communities practising Islam to Buddhism."
Idris further added that Communist China has tried to use every means and opportunity at its disposal to eliminate the Uyghur people from the Earth, including through COVID infections.Â
Law and Society Alliance chairman NC Bipindra said that the report described large-scale arbitrary detention of Uyghurs and other ethnic groups in East Turkistan.Â
"The report also stated that Beijing's actions could constitute crimes against humanity. But, by not using the term 'genocide' and using tentative words such as 'may' and 'could', the OHCHR, under Ms Bachelet, had missed an opportunity to rein in Communist China from further committing atrocities and torture of Turkic communities in its occupied territory, apart from scoring a self-goal against its stated human rights objectives, he said.
