China slammed by West over Hong Kong and Xinjiang at United Nations rights forum
- ‘No state should be above the law, China’s turn has come,’ says John Fisher of Human Rights Watch, speaking on behalf of more than 300 activist groups
- A Chinese diplomat rejected ‘baseless allegations’ by Western delegations
Western powers called on China on Friday to restore basic legal rights in Hong Kong and open up to scrutiny its remote Xinjiang region where more than 1 million ethnic Uygurs are being held.
The rare rebuke of China came at the UN Human Rights Council where the European Union, Britain, Australia and Canada were among those voicing mounting concerns about both areas.
“No state should be above the law, China’s turn has come,” John Fisher of Human Rights Watch told the forum, speaking on behalf of more than 300 activist groups.
Abdulxukur Abdurixit, a Uygur, urged the council to name a UN investigator on his native region, saying: “There is a genocide being committed against my people.”
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“My family is held hostage in a Chinese concentration camp. My brother is forced to assemble phone chargers as a slave labourer. Your charger may be among them,” he said.
A Chinese diplomat rejected “baseless allegations” by Western delegations but did not address them.
