LRT.lt reports that eight Nordic and Baltic countries released a joint statement on May 19, expressing grave concern at the human rights abuses of Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in China, due to reports of forced labour, sexual abuse, forced sterilizations, and “re-education camps” where about 1 million Uighurs have been imprisoned.
The statement, signed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden expresses concern regarding severe restrictions on freedom of religion or belief, expression, peaceful assembly and association and the freedoms of movement for Uyghurs and other persons belonging to minority groups, as well as other human rights violations and abuses in Xinjiangit. The statement, which also called on Beijing to allow unhindered media access into the region, was delivered by the Danish representative to the United Nations.
The United States became the first country to declare China’s policies in Xinjian as “genocide”, followed by the Canadian and Dutch parliaments, as well as the United Kingdom.
On May 20, Lithuanian parliament adopted a resolution condemning “crimes against humanity” and “the Uyghur genocide” in China. The resolution calls on “the United Nations to initiate a legal inquiry into the Uyghur genocide in Xinjiang detention camps” and on the European Parliament and the European Commission “to review the EU’s cooperation policy with China and formulate a clear position on China’s massive, systematic and serious human rights violations, crimes against humanity and the Uyghur genocide”.
The document urges Beijing to “immediately end the illegal practice of organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience, release all prisoners of conscience in China, including members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement, end the Uyghur genocide and close re-education camps, and release all detainees and prisoners in detention and forced labor camps”. It also calls for the revocation of the National Security Law in Hong Kong and the withdrawal of Chinese forces from the semi-autonomous city, as well as for the lifting of “restrictions on freedom of expression and political rights, and the admission of independent human rights experts to Tibetan territory, and dialogue with the Dalai Lama on preserving Tibetan cultural and religious heritage and restoring of freedom of religion”.
The Chinese Embassy in Lithuania said the resolution was based on lies and disinformation and constitutes “gross interference in China’s internal affairs”.
“Those members of Seimas, believing hearsay and distorting facts, arbitrarily smear China and severely undermine China-Lithuania relations” the embassy said, adding that “these are bound to be spurned by the entire Chinese people of all ethnic groups and all parts of China and visionary people upholding justice in Lithuania”.
Human rights groups report that at least a million Uyghurs and other Turkic-speaking Muslims are being held in so-called “re-education camps” in Xinjiang which are part of a government campaign to forcibly assimilate ethnic minorities, sometimes using torture and forced labour. Mass rapes and the forced sterilization of women are also alleged to have taken place in the camps. China initially denied the existence of the camps, but it now describes them as vocational education and training centres aimed at countering Muslim radicalism and separatist tendencies.
With news from LRT.lt and Lithuania Daily Bulletin
