VOC Applauds US, UK, and Other Governments for Seeking UN Human Rights Debate on Xinjiang

Today, it was announced that the United States, the United Kingdom along with several other governments of the free world have called for a debate at the UN Human Rights Council to discuss the Chinese Communist Party’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

“We welcome the announcement by the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, and Norway calling for a debate on the Chinese government’s genocide in Xinjiang. The recently-released UN report states that the Chinese government’s crimes against Uyghurs may constitute crimes against humanity, and it is now time for the free world to hold China accountable for its actions. We urge all rights-respecting governments to support this call for a debate,” said Ambassador Andrew Bremberg, President and CEO of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC).

This Human Rights Council debate would be the first time that China’s human rights abuses are featured on the body’s agenda in its 16-year history.  In August, the UN released the long-delayed report on Xinjiang, which detailed what it called “serious human rights violations” and concludes that the “extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim groups…may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.”

Heavily citing the work of VOC and our Senior Fellow in China Studies, Dr. Adrian Zenz, the report detailed the scope of human rights violations against Uyghurs, including the nature and extent of the internment of Uyghurs, and the intent of the officials responsible as evidenced by the internment data and Chinese Communist Party speeches released by VOC in the Xinjiang Police Files.

On May 24, VOC released the Xinjiang Police Files containing thousands of images of Uyghurs detained by XUAR authorities, detailed information about the security and operations of the internment camps, and incriminating speeches of Chinese Communist Party officials. The unprecedented materials were obtained from the largest and most significant hack of internal documents from Xinjiang police networks, consisting of tens of thousands of documents. The new evidence incriminates multiple Chinese government officials at the highest levels of the central government.