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Britain wants UN to have 'urgent' access to Uighur camps in China's Xinjiang

WION Web Team
New Delhi, IndiaUpdated: Feb 22, 2021, 04:34 PM IST
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Dominic Raab, Uighurs in Xinjiang. Pictures: Reuters Photograph:(WION Web Team)

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Britain on Monday will call on United Nations to be granted access to the Xinjiang region of China, where excesses against Uighur Muslims have been reported

Britain on Monday will call on United Nations to be granted access to the Xinjiang region of China, where excesses against Uighur Muslims have been reported.

As part of this, the UK will urge UN to have "urgent and unfettered" access to the region to investigate instances of abuses.

Britain is also set to return to the UN Human Rights Council as a voting member. As it begins its journey, Britain is expected to condemn human rights record of fellow members like China and Russia. British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab's office said that the country is also expected to raise concerns about Myanmar and Belarus.

Raab is expected to speak about abuses in Xinjiang. Reports indicate that torture, forced labour, and forced sterilisation of women is undertaken in the area. His office said that he is expected to take up the cause, while alleging that the abuses are taking place "on an industrial scale".

China has faced global backlash for its mistreatment of the Uighur minority in Xinjiang. Many complexes have been set up in the region, which China claims are "vocational traíning centres" to weed out extremism and to equip the people of Xinjiang with new skills.

Many have referred to these buildings as "concentration camps". Raab will take up the issue, and as reported by CNN, will urge UN High Commissioner for Human Rights or another independent body to be given access to these camps.

According to the United Nations, at least 1 million Uighurs, along with other Muslims remain detained in Xinjiang.

On January 19, 2021, the United States government said that China was committing genocide in Xinjiang, which former Secretary of State Pompeo described as "the systematic attempt to destroy Uighurs by the Chinese-party state".

China, on the other hand, claims that Muslim minorities in the region enjoy a high quality of life.