No UN debate on situation in China: “A black day for human rights”

The UN Human Rights Council has rejected a debate on China’s alleged human rights abuses against Uyghurs in Xinjiang. The Council’s credibility was severely shaken.

A bitter moment: applause at the UN Human Rights Council after a vote in which the UN’s main human rights body declined to even debate human rights abuses in China. 19 votes against, 11 abstentions – only 17 votes in favor. With that, the proposal by Western states to hold a debate on the UN Human Rights Office’s report on the situation in China’s Xinjiang region was off the table.

The report was published at the end of August and documents serious human rights violations against the Muslim Uyghur minority, including with reference to state Chinese sources.

After the vote in the Human Rights Council, the President of the Uyghur World Congress spoke of a “catastrophe”, the Foreign Office in Berlin of a “black day for human rights”. “It’s disappointing that even a debate about the human rights situation is obviously too much for some countries,” says Olaf Wientzek, head of the multilateral dialogue office at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Geneva.

Result was not a big surprise

However, the result of the vote in the Human Rights Council was not a great surprise. China has been vehemently opposing the UN report on Xinjiang for weeks and denies any human rights violations. Accordingly, Chinese diplomats in Geneva aggressively campaigned for the rejection of the Western states’ proposal.

“In addition, China is a very influential country and, in the Human Rights Council, shows its economic and political influence over many other countries in the run-up to such votes,” explains Wientzek.

“China’s influence has grown”

Chinese delegations, according to diplomats in Geneva, specifically visited the representations of many member countries before the vote in the Human Rights Council. And for some time now, according to Wientzek, Beijing has been promoting a specifically Chinese definition of human rights at the UN.

“I wouldn’t say that the United Nations has been completely undermined by China just yet. But it’s clear that China’s influence has been growing. And what’s particularly worrying is that China has had some success in trying to change the narrative.”

In doing so, it places a stronger focus on economic and social rights than on individual human rights, and international dialogue is also promoted to a greater extent. “That means you don’t criticize yourself so much,” says Wientzek.

The influential role of Pakistan

The fact that traditional allies like Venezuela, Bolivia and Eritrea sided with China yesterday in the Human Rights Council is nothing new. What was surprising, however, was that Muslim countries such as Indonesia and Qatar also voted against the oppression of Muslim Uyghurs in China being debated.

According to Wientzek, this is also due to the influence of Pakistan. Pakistan is the coordinator for human rights and humanitarian issues at the OIC (Organization for Islamic Cooperation) with an influential role. “And Pakistan is a very close ally of China in the Human Rights Council and in general. I think that explains the vote to a large extent.”

Special rapporteur to Russia?

Most observers agree that the credibility of the UN Human Rights Council was severely shaken this Thursday. Another acid test is already pending today: at the initiative of the EU states, the member states are voting on whether the Council will send a special rapporteur to Russia to examine the human rights situation there.

According to Wientzek, the chances for this project are better. “Russia’s credibility on the board has plummeted and the vote will also provide an interesting comparison of the influence of Russia and China on the growing imbalance between these two partners.” Because then the situation would arise that in one case there would be a special rapporteur on the human rights situation in a country – and on the other side the discussion on the human rights situation would already be rejected.