West criticizes China over human rights record, China asks about rights in Gaza

(Patria) - Australia, the United States, and thirteen other countries criticized China on Tuesday at the United Nations over alleged human rights violations in Xinjiang and Tibet, prompting China to condemn them for ignoring the "living hell" in the Gaza Strip, Reuters reported.

Disputes over China's treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslims have become a regular occurrence at both the United Nations in New York and the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. A UN report released two years ago stated that China's "arbitrary and discriminatory detention" of Uyghurs and other Muslims in its Xinjiang region may constitute crimes against humanity. It stated that "serious human rights violations" have been committed.

"We call on China to abide by its international human rights obligations that it has
voluntarily undertaken and to implement all UN recommendations," Australia's UN Ambassador James Larsen told the UN General Assembly's Human Rights Committee. "This includes releasing all individuals arbitrarily detained in Xinjiang and Tibet and urgently clarifying the fate and whereabouts of disappeared family members," he said.

He spoke on behalf of Australia, the United States, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Japan, Lithuania, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Beijing has long denied all accusations of mistreating Uyghurs. China's UN Ambassador Fu Cong accused the group of Western states on Tuesday of resorting to "lies to provoke conflict".

"The human rights situation that should attract the most attention at the committee this year is undoubtedly the situation in Gaza," he said.

"Australia and the US, among several others, have downplayed this living hell, while unleashing attacks and slander against peaceful and serene Xinjiang."

Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking around 250 others hostage. Israel, a US ally, retaliated in Gaza, killing 42,000 people, with almost all of the enclave's 2.3 million people displaced.

Fu said that if the death toll in Gaza is not enough to "awaken the conscience of several Western countries... then their so-called protection of the human rights of Muslims is nothing but the biggest lie."