BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission, responding to a U.N. report that China may have committed crimes against humanity in its Xinjiang region, said on Thursday that it strongly condemns human rights violations in the country.
“We are currently assessing the content of the report and we will be issuing reaction in good time,” a European Commission spokesperson told a news briefing.
“But, as we have said before, the EU strongly condemns human rights violations in Xinjiang and other parts of China – in particular the persecution of the Uyghurs and other persons belonging to national or religious and ethnic minorities.”
The report of outgoing U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said that China’s “arbitrary and discriminatory detention” of Uyghurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang region might constitute crimes against humanity.
The report, released on Wednesday minutes before Bachelet’s four-year term ended, said rights violations had been committed in Xinjiang “in the context of the government’s application of counter-terrorism and counter-‘extremism’ strategies”.
China has vigorously denied any abuses in Xinjiang and issued a 131-page response to the 48-page U.N. report.
The European Commission spokesperson added: “The EU continues to call upon China to comply with its human rights obligations under national and international law.”
(Reporting by Marine Strauss and John Chalmers, editing by Mark Heinrich)
