Western Nations Urge China to Release Detained Uyghurs, Allow Human Rights Observers in Xinjiang and Tibet

A group of 15 Western countries, including the United States, Canada, Germany, and Japan, called on China Tuesday to release all arbitrarily detained Uyghur Muslims and Tibetans and to grant access to independent human rights observers to assess the situation in Xinjiang and Tibet.

Australian Ambassador to the United Nations, James Larsen, speaking on behalf of the group, emphasized the need for transparency. “We call on China to allow unfettered and meaningful access to Xinjiang and Tibet for independent observers, including from the U.N., to evaluate the human rights situation,” Larsen said during a U.N. General Assembly committee meeting on human rights.

The group raised concerns about reports of large-scale arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, forced labor, and the destruction of cultural and religious sites in Xinjiang, where the Uyghur and Turkic-speaking minority populations live. Human rights organizations estimate that up to 1 million Uyghur Muslims have been detained in “reeducation camps” in the region, while Tibetans face increasing restrictions on their cultural, linguistic, and religious freedoms.

Larsen stressed that China had many opportunities to address the U.N.’s concerns but chose not to. Instead, China rejected the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ (OHCHR) findings as “illegal and void” during a Universal Periodic Review in July.

In response, China’s envoy to the U.N., Ambassador Fu Cong, dismissed the accusations as politically motivated. He accused the Western nations of “weaponizing” human rights and interfering in China’s internal affairs. “The so-called assessment report on Xinjiang is fraught with lies and deception,” Fu said, suggesting that the U.S. and its allies were using human rights concerns to suppress China’s development.

Fu further accused the West of double standards, urging the committee to focus on the situation in Gaza, which he described as a “living hell,” and questioned Western commitment to the human rights of Muslims globally.

The United States and several other countries have described China’s actions in Xinjiang as genocide, a claim that Beijing continues to deny.