UN committee urges China to free Xinjiang detainees, recommends reparations

GENEVA, Nov 24 (Reuters) – A United Nations committee
urged China on Thursday to release people held in detention
facilities in its Xinjiang region and recommended that it
provide victims with “remedies and reparation”.

The committee’s statement adds to pressure on China, a
permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, to enact reforms
following a report from the global body’s human rights chief in
August which said its treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslims may
constitute crimes against humanity.

Rights groups accuse Beijing of abuses against Uyghurs, a
mainly Muslim ethnic minority that numbers around 10 million in
Xinjiang, including the mass use of forced labour in internment
camps. China denies any rights abuses.

Its spokesperson at the diplomatic mission in Geneva, Liu
Yuyin, said Beijing firmly opposes the U.N. committee’s move,
saying it “smears and slanders China’s human rights situation
based on disinformation fabricated by Western countries and
anti-China separatist forces”.

The 18-member committee regularly monitors countries’
compliance with a 1965 international convention on racial
discrimination which China and some 180 other countries are
party to.

The committee said the “lack of improvement in the human
rights situation in Xinjiang” spurred it to adopt the
recommendations, known as a decision.

The document also called for China to “undertake a full
review of its legal framework governing national security,
counter terrorism and minority rights in (Xinjiang)” to ensure
compliance with the convention.
(Reporting by Emma Farge
Editing by Gareth Jones)