GENEVA: China’s discriminatory detention of Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups in the western region of Xinjiang may constitute crimes against humanity, the UN human rights office said in a long-awaited report released Wednesday.
The report calls for an urgent international response over allegations of torture and other rights violations in Beijing’s campaign to root out terrorism.
UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet brushed aside Chinaese calls for office to withhold the report, which follows her own trip to Xinjiang in May and which Beijing’s contends is part of a Western campaign to smear China’s reputation.
The report has fanned a tug-of-war for diplomatic influence with the West over the rights of the region’s native Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic groups.
The report, which Western diplomats and UN officials said had been all but ready for months, was published with just minutes to go in Bachelet’s four-year term. It was unexpected to break significant new ground beyond sweeping findings from independent advocacy groups and journalists who have documented concerns about human rights in Xinjiang for years.
But Bachelet’s report comes with the imprimatur of the United Nations, and the member states that make it up. The run-up to its release fueled a debate over China’s influence at the world body and epitomized the on-and-off diplomatic chill between Beijing and the West over human rights, among other sore spots.
Hours before the release, China’s UN ambassador, Zhang Jun, said Beijing remained “firmly opposed” to the release.
“We haven’t seen this report yet, but we are completely opposed to such a report, we do not think it will produce any good to anyone,” Zhang told reporters outside the Security Council. ”We have made it very clear to the high commissioner and in a number of other occasions that we are firmly opposed to such a report.”
“We all know so well that the so-called Xinjiang issue is a completely fabricated lie out of political motivations, and its purpose is definitely to undermine China’s stability and to obstruct China’s development,” he added.
Bachelet said in recent months that she received pressure from both sides to publish — or not publish — the report and resisted it all, treading a fine line all the while noting her experience with political squeeze during her two terms as president of Chile.
In June, Bachelet said she would not seek a new term as rights chief, and promised the report would be released by her departure date on Aug. 31. That led to a swell in back-channel campaigns — including letters from civil society, civilians and governments on both sides of the issue. She hinted last week her office might miss her deadline, saying it was “trying” to release it before her exit.
Bachelet had set her sights on Xinjiang upon taking office in September 2018, but Western diplomats voiced concerns in private that over her term, she did not challenge China enough when other rights monitors had cited abuses against Muslim Uyghurs and others in Xinjiang.
In the past five years, the Chinese government’s mass detention campaign in Xinjiang swept an estimated million Uyghurs and other ethnic groups into a network of prisons and camps, which Beijing called “training centers” but former detainees described as brutal detention centers.
Beijing has since closed many of the camps, but hundreds of thousands continue to languish in prison on vague, secret charges.
Some countries, including the United States, have accused Beijing of committing genocide in Xinjiang.
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UN cites possible crimes against humanity in China’s Xinjiang
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UN cites possible crimes against humanity in China’s Xinjiang
- Hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs continue to languish in prison on vague, secret charges
- UN human rights chief brushed aside Chinaese calls for office to withhold the report
US immigration officials grilled by Congress over Trump crackdown
- Trump administration officials faced a barrage of criticism and tough questions from Democratic lawmakers over the major crackdown on migrants in multiple US cities
- Rodney Scott hailed efforts on the southern US frontier, saying CBP ‘spent the last year rebuilding what was an intentionally broken border’
WASHINGTON: The heads of US immigration agencies faced heavy criticism in Congress Tuesday as they defended President Donald Trump’s mass deportation drive and fielded questions about the fatal shootings of two protesters in Minneapolis.
Trump acknowledged in the wake of the Minneapolis killings that a “softer touch” may be needed on immigration, and his administration announced concessions including the withdrawal of hundreds of officers from the Midwestern city.
But the issue remains far from resolved, with Democrats demanding changes to the way the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) conducts its immigration sweeps and threatening to block its funding, while Trump’s administration vows to maintain its deportation efforts, with backing from Republican lawmakers.
“The president tasked us with mass deportation, and we are fulfilling that mandate,” Todd Lyons, the acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said in his opening remarks during the Tuesday hearing on DHS oversight.
He testified alongside Rodney Scott, the head of US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and Citizenship and Immigration Services director Joseph Edlow.
Scott hailed efforts on the southern US frontier, saying CBP “spent the last year rebuilding what was an intentionally broken border” and that “the United States... enjoys the most secure border in our nation’s history.”
The Trump administration officials faced a barrage of criticism and tough questions from Democratic lawmakers over the major crackdown on migrants in multiple US cities, which Republican representatives largely defended.
“This administration and the agencies represented before us have shown a complete and utter disregard for the law and the Constitution,” Democratic Representative Tim Kennedy said.
Representative Eli Crane, a Republican, pushed back on criticism of immigration enforcement, accusing Democrats of seeking to “demonize ICE and Homeland Security.”
‘Days, not weeks’
In Minneapolis, thousands of federal agents have in recent weeks conducted raids in what the administration claims are targeted operations against criminals.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said Tuesday that he expects the crackdown — which has seen detentions of broad categories of immigrants and sometimes citizens — to end soon.
“We’re very much in a ‘trust but verify’ mode. But it’s my expectation... that we are talking days, not weeks and months, of this occupation,” Walz said.
The operations have sparked mass protests in Minneapolis, and the fatal shootings of US citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti less than three weeks apart last month led to a wave of outrage.
When Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell asked Tuesday if Lyons would apologize to Good and Pretti’s families over the Trump administration’s initial description of them as “domestic terrorists,” he declined, saying he would not comment on active investigations.
Opposition Democrats have been calling for sweeping reforms to ICE operations, including ending mobile patrols, prohibiting agents from concealing their faces, and requiring warrants.
Democratic leaders in Congress are also threatening to block the 2026 funding bill for DHS. The White House has indicated it is willing to negotiate, but its response has failed to satisfy opposition lawmakers so far.
“Republicans shared an outline of a counterproposal, which included neither details nor legislative text,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement.
They denounced the White House response as “incomplete and insufficient in terms of addressing the concerns Americans have about ICE’s lawless conduct,” and said they were awaiting further details.
If negotiations fail, DHS could face a funding shortfall starting Saturday. CBP and ICE operations could continue using funds approved by Congress last year, but other sub-agencies such as federal disaster organization FEMA could be affected.
Trump acknowledged in the wake of the Minneapolis killings that a “softer touch” may be needed on immigration, and his administration announced concessions including the withdrawal of hundreds of officers from the Midwestern city.
But the issue remains far from resolved, with Democrats demanding changes to the way the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) conducts its immigration sweeps and threatening to block its funding, while Trump’s administration vows to maintain its deportation efforts, with backing from Republican lawmakers.
“The president tasked us with mass deportation, and we are fulfilling that mandate,” Todd Lyons, the acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said in his opening remarks during the Tuesday hearing on DHS oversight.
He testified alongside Rodney Scott, the head of US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and Citizenship and Immigration Services director Joseph Edlow.
Scott hailed efforts on the southern US frontier, saying CBP “spent the last year rebuilding what was an intentionally broken border” and that “the United States... enjoys the most secure border in our nation’s history.”
The Trump administration officials faced a barrage of criticism and tough questions from Democratic lawmakers over the major crackdown on migrants in multiple US cities, which Republican representatives largely defended.
“This administration and the agencies represented before us have shown a complete and utter disregard for the law and the Constitution,” Democratic Representative Tim Kennedy said.
Representative Eli Crane, a Republican, pushed back on criticism of immigration enforcement, accusing Democrats of seeking to “demonize ICE and Homeland Security.”
‘Days, not weeks’
In Minneapolis, thousands of federal agents have in recent weeks conducted raids in what the administration claims are targeted operations against criminals.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said Tuesday that he expects the crackdown — which has seen detentions of broad categories of immigrants and sometimes citizens — to end soon.
“We’re very much in a ‘trust but verify’ mode. But it’s my expectation... that we are talking days, not weeks and months, of this occupation,” Walz said.
The operations have sparked mass protests in Minneapolis, and the fatal shootings of US citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti less than three weeks apart last month led to a wave of outrage.
When Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell asked Tuesday if Lyons would apologize to Good and Pretti’s families over the Trump administration’s initial description of them as “domestic terrorists,” he declined, saying he would not comment on active investigations.
Opposition Democrats have been calling for sweeping reforms to ICE operations, including ending mobile patrols, prohibiting agents from concealing their faces, and requiring warrants.
Democratic leaders in Congress are also threatening to block the 2026 funding bill for DHS. The White House has indicated it is willing to negotiate, but its response has failed to satisfy opposition lawmakers so far.
“Republicans shared an outline of a counterproposal, which included neither details nor legislative text,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement.
They denounced the White House response as “incomplete and insufficient in terms of addressing the concerns Americans have about ICE’s lawless conduct,” and said they were awaiting further details.
If negotiations fail, DHS could face a funding shortfall starting Saturday. CBP and ICE operations could continue using funds approved by Congress last year, but other sub-agencies such as federal disaster organization FEMA could be affected.
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