Labour practices in China’s Xinjiang of ‘deep concern’, says UN agency

Name: US declares China has committed genocide in its treatment of Uygurs in Xinjiang
Uploaded: 2022-02-11T17:45:32.000Z
Duration: 2 min 27 s
Description: US declares China has committed genocide in its treatment of Uygurs in Xinjiang

The International Labour Organization called on Beijing to bring what it called discriminatory employment policies in line with global standards

Alleged violations would be raised at a major conference in June, and could lead to a formal complaint and the forming of a commission of inquiry

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A woman wears a face mask with a slogan supporting Uygurs as she attends a protest in Berlin during a visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in September 2020. Photo: AP

Reuters

Published: 1:45am, 12 Feb 2022Updated: 3:09am, 12 Feb 2022

An International Labour Organization committee has expressed “deep concern” about China’s policies in its far western region of Xinjiang, calling them discriminatory and asking Beijing to bring its employment practices into line with global standards.

The report on the region, home to China’s minority Muslim Uygurs, risks stoking geopolitical tensions between China and the United States at a sensitive time for Beijing as it hosts the Winter Olympics.

The United States accuses China of genocide, and along with other Western nations has imposed a diplomatic boycott of the Games over China’s treatment of Uygurs in Xinjiang. Allegations of rights abuses include some that are reviewed by the ILO committee, such as China’s alleged use of forced and prison labour.

China denies the accusations.

02:27

US declares China has committed genocide in its treatment of Uygurs in Xinjiang

“The committee expresses its deep concern in respect of the policy directions expressed in numerous national and regional policy and regulatory documents and requests therefore the government to review its national and regional policies with a view to eliminating all distinction, exclusion or preference,” the report released by the UN agency on Thursday said.

Specifically, the committee asked China to repeal provisions “that impose deradicalisation duties on enterprises and trade unions” in Xinjiang and to amend political re-education provisions.

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