Western Allies Rebuke China at UN Over Xinjiang, Hong Kong
- German envoy cites reports of forced labor, sterilization
- China’s ambassador says it’s fighting terrorism in Xinjiang
Uighurs protest the 71st anniversary of the People's Republic of China in front of the White House on Oct. 1, 2020.
Photographer: Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images
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A group of 39 countries including Germany, the U.K. and the U.S. stepped up criticism of China’s human rights record, denouncing Beijing at the United Nations for its treatment of ethnic minorities and for curtailing freedoms in Hong Kong.
“Widespread surveillance disproportionately continues to target Uighurs and other minorities, and more reports are emerging of forced labor and forced birth control including sterilization,” Germany’s ambassador to the UN, Christoph Heusgen, said Tuesday in a statement on behalf of the group at the UN General Assembly’s human rights committee.