Canada at the United Nations Must Hasten Uighur Freedom |
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June 22nd 2021
Human rights defenders are optimistic following a joint-statement delivered to the UN Human Rights Council (OHCRH) that announced Canada’s leadership in a human rights investigation of Xinjiang.
We thank Hon. Leslie Norton, Ottawa’s ambassador to the United Nations, for highlighting the numerous grievances facing Uighur Muslims in the region.
We also uphold Canada’s involvement with 60 members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), which separately called for a Commission of Inquiry into “Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity taking place in the Xinjiang.”
Justice For All Canada and its partners have long appealed the Federal Government to push for unobstructed access to detention facilities in East Turkestan (Xinjiang, China). Through countless education initiatives and public calls to action, we have maintained that over 1 million Uighur Muslims and Turkic ethnic minorities are targeted disproportionately through widespread surveillance.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has restricted their fundamental freedoms, including the freedom to practice religion and culture. We have also previously asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to condemn the CCP’s cruel treatment, family separation, gender-based violence and forced sterilization of Uighur Muslim minorities.
This important development coincides with a June 14th revelation by the OHCRC expressing grave concern over organ harvesting targeting “Uighurs, Falun Gong practitioners, Tibetans, Muslims and Christians” facing detention.
We urge the United Nations to promptly undertake Canada’s proposed investigation; this can save more Uighur lives from being potentially lost or impacted. Canada, including the international alliance of over 20 countries, must prioritize the immediate dismantling of concentration camps. Perpetrators and authorities must also be held accountable for the decades-long persecution of Uighurs.
“Canada leading an investigation into China’s crimes against humanity must include transparency from Xinjiang authorities throughout,” said Taha Ghayyur, Executive Director at Justice For All Canada. “Otherwise, the entire process would be futile and a waste of time,” Ghayyur reflected.
Human rights defenders are optimistic following a joint-statement delivered to the UN Human Rights Council (OHCRH) that announced Canada’s leadership in a human rights investigation of Xinjiang.
We thank Hon. Leslie Norton, Ottawa’s ambassador to the United Nations, for highlighting the numerous grievances facing Uighur Muslims in the region.
We also uphold Canada’s involvement with 60 members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), which separately called for a Commission of Inquiry into “Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity taking place in the Xinjiang.”
Justice For All Canada and its partners have long appealed the Federal Government to push for unobstructed access to detention facilities in East Turkestan (Xinjiang, China). Through countless education initiatives and public calls to action, we have maintained that over 1 million Uighur Muslims and Turkic ethnic minorities are targeted disproportionately through widespread surveillance.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has restricted their fundamental freedoms, including the freedom to practice religion and culture. We have also previously asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to condemn the CCP’s cruel treatment, family separation, gender-based violence and forced sterilization of Uighur Muslim minorities.
This important development coincides with a June 14th revelation by the OHCRC expressing grave concern over organ harvesting targeting “Uighurs, Falun Gong practitioners, Tibetans, Muslims and Christians” facing detention.
We urge the United Nations to promptly undertake Canada’s proposed investigation; this can save more Uighur lives from being potentially lost or impacted. Canada, including the international alliance of over 20 countries, must prioritize the immediate dismantling of concentration camps. Perpetrators and authorities must also be held accountable for the decades-long persecution of Uighurs.
“Canada leading an investigation into China’s crimes against humanity must include transparency from Xinjiang authorities throughout,” said Taha Ghayyur, Executive Director at Justice For All Canada. “Otherwise, the entire process would be futile and a waste of time,” Ghayyur reflected.