A perimeter fence is seen around what is officially known as a vocational skills education centre in Dabancheng in the Xinjiang Uyghur region, China, on Sept. 4, 2018. Thomas Peter/Reuters
By Andrew Chen
Canada is criticizing China’s continued disregard for international calls to address severe human rights violations against Uyghurs, marking the second anniversary of a United Nations report that highlighted abuses carried out under the guise of fighting terrorism.
In August 2022, the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released an assessment detailing severe human rights violations in China’s Xinjiang region, noting that the extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities may constitute crimes against humanity.
“Two years later, China has not taken meaningful steps to address these concerns despite ongoing calls from Canada, other governments, UN experts, human rights organizations, victims’ groups and the global Uyghur diaspora,” Global Affairs Canada said in an Aug. 31 press release.
“Reports continue to point to systemic human rights violations by Chinese authorities. Uyghurs are forced into labour in Xinjiang and elsewhere in China.”
The 2022 OHCHR report noted that the “serious human rights violations” in Xinjiang included the arbitrary detention of large numbers of Uyghurs in what China describes as “vocational education and training centres.”
While the Chinese regime says these centres are part of efforts to counter terrorism and “extremism,” the OHCHR raised concerns about the regime’s vague definition of extremism and the reported ill treatment of detainees. Citing interviews with former detainees, the report details accounts of various forms of torture and abuse experienced during their time in or while being transferred to these centres.
The Chinese regime’s engagement in rights abuses and surveillance of minority groups under the guise of combating terrorism includes two mass biometric data collection programs in Tibet and Qinghai Province led by Chinese public security organs.
The Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, in a 2023 submission to the U.S. Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights, said that, even though the Chinese regime says these programs are meant to fight crime and terrorism, they are not actually connected to criminal or terrorist investigations and don’t seem to be authorized by Chinese law.
“Instead, these two programs appear to be part of broader public security surveillance and social control programs,” the submission said.
Calling on China to Address Concerns
Global Affairs said both Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly and Canada’s Ambassador to China Jennifer May have addressed the issue with Chinese officials. Diaspora communities and China watchers had urged Joly to raise human rights concerns during her visit to China in July. Similarly, there were calls for May to address these issues during her June visit to Xinjiang, which was the first by a Canadian envoy in a decade.
Additionally, Global Affairs Canada said U.N. experts have expressed concerns about children being forced into state-run residential schools in Xinjiang and other parts of China. Noting that the regime denied the findings and blocked discussion at the U.N. Human Rights Council, the department pledged to work with international partners to hold China accountable for its human rights violations.
“Canada calls on China to address the concerns raised in the UN assessment and to implement its recommendations without delay. This includes allowing UN independent experts access to Xinjiang and to other regions of China to assess conditions,” Global Affairs Canada said in its statement.