Pakistan says it is supporting China’s efforts to boost socio-economic development, harmony, peace and stability in Xinjiang.
The country made this known in a statement on a resolution on Xinjiang at UNHRC.
This follows the United Nations report detailing a string of alleged rights violations against Uighurs and other minorities in the region.
Meanwhile, criticism has trailed the resolution of Pakistan which claims to speak for the rights of Muslims.
According to the critics, while Pakistan speaks for Muslims on hand, its statement supporting China showcased a different picture.
Pakistan at a UNHRC resolution appreciated China’s efforts to protect the minority communities in Xinjiang, the region alleged of Beijing’s human rights violations.
Somalia is the only OIC country that voted in favour of the decision of holding a debate on the human rights situation in China’s Xinjiang.
In a statement, Pakistan said “China has pursued the path of dialogue and constructive engagement with the UN Human Rights machinery.
“Beijing is creating an enabling environment for the enjoyment of fundamental human rights in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China.”
“Pakistan remains of the firm view that the perspective and consent of the concerned States should be given utmost importance when dealing with the affairs which fall exclusively within their sovereign jurisdiction.”
Meanwhile, India abstained from voting on the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution on holding a debate on the human rights situation in China’s Xinjiang.
The draft resolution on “holding a debate on the situation of human rights in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China” was rejected in the 47-member Council after 17 members voted in favour, 19 members voted against, including China, and 11 abstentions, including India, Brazil, Mexico and Ukraine.
A UN report said that “the violations have taken place in the context of the Chinese Government’s assertion that it is targeting terrorists among the Uyghur minority with a counter-extremism strategy that involves the use of so-called Vocational Educational and Training Centres (VETCs), or re-education camps.”
In its assessment at the end of the report, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said that the extent of arbitrary detentions against Uyghur and others, in the context of “restrictions and deprivation more generally of fundamental rights, enjoyed individually and collectively, may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.”
The systems of arbitrary detention and related patterns of abuse since 2017, said OHCHR, “come against the backdrop of broader discrimination” against Uyghur and other minorities.
Mercy Chukwudiebere
