(File image) Photo: AFP via Getty Images / Greg Baker
A Uyghur national in New Zealand says a UN report condemning human rights abuses in Xinjiang province should have gone further and labelled China's actions genocide.
In a long-awaited report into allegations of abuse in Xinjiang province - released last week - outgoing UN human rights commissioner Michelle Bachelet accused China of "serious human rights violations". Investigators said they found credible evidence of torture against Uyghurs.
More than a million people are estimated to have been detained at camps in the Xinjiang region, in north-east China.
The report found evidence of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of Uyghur and members of other predominantly Muslim groups, and suggested Beijing's actions constituted international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.
Uyghur national Jo* told RNZ it was not only a crime against humanity, but genocide.
Jo said he believed that by calling it a lesser crime, the UN had buckled to pressure from China. "If the world community doesn't take action," the report meant nothing, he said.
Beijing had called the report a "farce" arranged by Western powers - and had put pressure on the UN not to release it at all. It denied allegations of abuse and argued the camps were a tool to fight terrorism.
However UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Jeremy Laurence told RNZ that though the organisation was always under pressure from various sides, "independence is the hallmark of our work, and this case is no exception."
On the question of genocide, he said "we are making no judgement ourselves on that specific issue. The available information, assessed according to our own standards, does not enable us to do so at this time."
Uyghur Solidarity Aotearoa spokesperson Sam Vincent also said the report could have gone further and that the state of affairs in the Uyghur region was "genocide".
However, the report was a step in the right direction, because it was helpful to have the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights making a clear assessment of "these human rights abuses that can't be denied", Vincent said.
Jo wanted countries around the world to stop doing business with China, to pressure the country to front up on the welfare of its Uyghur people.
He said New Zealand's strong economic connections with China were "extremely concerning", and China had long-standing business and political influence in New Zealand.
Vincent said the government had been reluctant to take actions against China that would cause difficulty for industry and export industries.
Alongside their trade relationship, he said there was "absolutely influence that's being exerted by the Chinese government" on the New Zealand government.
He believed that was why New Zealand had not declared China was committing genocide and why the government had not banned forced labour products from entering the country's borders.
In response, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said New Zealand had an independent foreign policy based on its own assessment of the country's interests and values.
It said New Zealand had "grave concerns about credible reports of human rights violations and abuses targeting ethnic Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, China".
MFAT said the government was currently working on new laws to address modern slavery in New Zealand's international supply chains.
Following the release of the report, Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta said New Zealand had been "consistent in raising grave concerns regarding the treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang".
Jo alleged the Chinese Communist Party had in the past influenced immigration and prevented Uyghur people from getting visas. The claim was rejected by Immigration New Zealand (INZ) border and visa operations manager Nicola Hogg, who said: "Absolutely under no circumstances would INZ ever profile people based on single factors such as race or ethnicity alone."
INZ did not hold any data on Uyghur people "as they are an ethnic group of China and would be applying as Chinese nationals", Hogg said.
*Name has been changed.