China urges Australia to close offshore detention centres
- In a statement to the UN Human Rights Council, Beijing said it was ‘deeply concerned’ by conditions at ‘third country’ sites holding refugees and asylum seekers
- China itself has long faced accusations that it operates detention centres, with experts estimating it has detained more than a million people in Xinjiang
China on Friday said it was “deeply concerned” by what it described as the Australian government’s operation of offshore detention centres, and it called for the sites to be closed immediately.
In a statement to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, China alleged that the detention centres “fall short of adequate medical conditions where a large number of immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers have been detained over a long period of time or even indefinitely, and their human rights have been violated”.
It did not specify any locations, describing them as “third countries”. Asylum seekers intercepted at sea en route to Australia are sent for “processing” to Papua New Guinea or to the South Pacific island of Nauru.
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside normal working hours.
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China has described the camps as vocational centres designed to combat extremism.