UN diplomats and activists describe Chinese pressure and ‘threats’ over Uygur event at UN rights council
- The US-organised event on March 13 about China’s treatment of Uygurs in Xinjiang province attracted intense lobbying from China’s mission
- A letter signed by China’s Ambassador Yu Jianhua told countries not to take part ‘in the interest of our bilateral relations’
Diplomats and activists on Monday denounced intense Chinese lobbying and “threats” to rein in criticism of Beijing during last month’s session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Switzerland.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) charged that the Chinese mission in Geneva had sent a letter to a number of missions urging them to stay away from a US-organised event on March 13 about China’s treatment of Uygurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang province.
The letter, signed by Ambassador Yu Jianhua and seen by reporters, tells countries “not to co-sponsor, participate in or be present at this side event … in the interest of our bilateral relations and continued multilateral cooperation.”
HRW slammed these “threats”, with the organisation’s Geneva director John Fisher warning that the public outcry over the treatment of Muslim minorities had “sent China into panic mode”.
Chinese officials, he said in a statement, are now “using public as well as private pressure to block concerted international action”.