US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has accused China of human rights violations, particularly in the Xinjiang region, in a speech on the US State Department annual human rights report released on Tuesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th April, 2022) US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has accused China of human rights violations, particularly in the Xinjiang region, in a speech on the US State Department annual human rights report released on Tuesday.
"China continues to commit crimes against humanity in Xinjiang," Blinken said regarding the chaper in the report on China.
The US government has branded China as an authoritarian state in the report.
"Genocide and crimes against humanity occurred during the year against predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang," the report said.
The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region is the largest province in China with a population of 25 million people from various ethnic groups, but about 43% of them are Uyghurs. The region, bordering seven countries, including Afghanistan and Pakistan, has been considered an epicenter of terrorism and extremism for many years.
At the end of August 2018, experts from the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination reported that up to 1 million ethnic Uyghurs could be in so-called "re-education camps" in Xinjiang.
Beijing has denied the existence of re-education camps on numerous occasions, insisting that China fully complies with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
