The UN Human Rights Council has voted against debating alleged abuses in China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, in a heavy setback for Western nations.<\/p>\n
In a moment of knife-edge drama on Thursday, countries on the 47-member council in Geneva voted 19-17 against holding a debate on human rights in Xinjiang, with 11 nations abstaining.<\/p>\n
"This is a victory for developing countries and a victory for truth and justice," tweeted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying.<\/p>\n
The United States and its allies last month brought a draft decision targeting Beijing to the UN's top rights body, seeking as a bare minimum a discussion on Xinjiang.<\/p>\n
The move came after former UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet released her long-delayed report, citing possible crimes against humanity against Uighurs, an ethnic Turkic nation, and other Muslim minorities in the far-western region.<\/p>\n
"The United States condemns today's vote preventing a discussion about Xinjiang," US ambassador to the council Michele Taylor tweeted.<\/p>\n
Inaction "shamefully suggests some countries are free from scrutiny and allowed to violate human rights with impunity".<\/p>\n
Amnesty International branded Thursday's vote farcical, while Human Rights Watch (HRW) said it betrayed abuse victims.<\/p>\n
China says 'Western plot failed'<\/p>\n
Washington and some Western countries have used Xinjiang "to spread rumours and cause trouble, engaging in political manipulation under the guise of human rights, attempting to smear China's image," a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a statement.<\/p>\n
"The plot by the US and some Western countries has once again failed.<\/p>\n
"Xinjiang-related issues are fundamentally not human rights issues, but are counter-terrorism, deradicalisation and anti-separatism issues."<\/p>\n
The nations voting against a debate were Bolivia, Cameroon, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Gabon, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Kazakhstan, Mauritania, Namibia, Nepal, Pakistan, Qatar, Senegal, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Venezuela.<\/p>\n
Argentina, Armenia, Benin, Brazil, The Gambia, India, Libya, Malawi, Malaysia, Mexico and Ukraine abstained.<\/p>\n
The draft decision was put forward by the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Türkiye, among others.<\/p>\n
One Western diplomat stressed that regardless of the outcome, "the number one objective has been fulfilled" in putting Xinjiang in the spotlight.<\/p>\n
Source: AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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