Canada calls for UN to have ‘immediate, meaningful, and unfettered access’ to Xinjiang

加拿大呼籲使聯合國“即刻、有意義且不受限制地”進入新疆

China fires back with attack on Canada’s historical treatment of its Indigenous population


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Canada led a charge at the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday (June 22), speaking for over 40 countries when it demanded China open up Xinjiang Province to human rights inspectors from the international body, while issues related to Hong Kong and Tibet were also touched on, according to reports.

Reading a joint statement endorsed by the U.S., France, Spain, Japan, Britain, Australia, Germany, Italy, and other countries, Canada’s envoy to the UN, Leslie Norton, expressed grave concerns over reports of torture, forced sterilization, sexual violence, and the rending of families at the camps in Xinjiang, where by some estimates over 1 million ethnic Uyghur Muslims have been detained. She also called for the UN to have “immediate, meaningful, and unfettered access” to Xinjiang for the purposes of human rights inspections.

With several days' prior awareness of the joint statement on Xinjiang, China went on the attack against Canada, with senior Chinese diplomat at the UN in Geneva Jiang Duan calling for an investigation into Canada’s treatment of its own Indigenous population.

The Chinese statement was endorsed by North Korea, Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Syria, and Belarus. A separate statement endorsed by 64 countries was read by a Belarusian representative, who said that matters in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and Tibet were China’s internal affairs.

In its attempt to turn the tables on Ottawa, the Chinese statement cited reports of a recently unearthed mass grave of 213 children at a now-defunct Indigenous boarding school operated by the Catholic church in Canada. The church had run the boarding school from 1890 to 1969, when it was taken over by the federal government, converted into a day school, and then closed down about a decade later, per The Guardian.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pushed back against the Chinese counterattack, noting that Canada has had a truth and reconciliation commission on Indigenous matters while at the same time acknowledging that reform and progress have been slow.

“Where is China’s truth and reconciliation commission?” Trudeau asked. “Where is their truth? Where is the openness that Canada has always shown and the responsibility that Canada has taken for the terrible mistakes of the past?”