Zumretay Arkin Speaks Out Against China’s Treatment of Uyghurs in Geneva

Geneva [Switzerland], June 22: Zumretay Arkin, the Director for Global Advocacy at the United Nations, expressed her concerns over China’s policies towards the Uyghur community during a side event in Geneva. The event, titled ‘What’s Next After China’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR)’, took place on Thursday.

Arkin stated that the situation in the Xinjiang region has deteriorated, with one out of 26 Uyghur individuals imprisoned under various charges. This makes Xinjiang the region with the highest arrest rate in the world, with approximately 2,234 arrests per 100,000 people.

She criticized China for detaining Dr. Gulshan Abbas, a Uyghur doctor sentenced to 20 years in prison as retaliation for her sister’s activism against China in the US. Arkin referred to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) review of China, which monitored the implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

Arkin mentioned that several UN reports have indicated that the living conditions of the Uyghur community continue to decline. A 2022 CERD statement called on China to investigate allegations of human rights violations in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), including torture, ill-treatment, sexual violence, forced labor, enforced disappearances, and deaths in custody.

The CERD statement also demanded that China release all individuals arbitrarily detained in the XUAR and provide relatives with detailed information about their status and well-being. Arkin urged the international community and the Global South to hold China accountable for its actions in East Turkistan and to stop treating China with double standards.