On 4 July, at a UN dialogue in Geneva to discuss the adoption of the official report following its UPR review last January, Chinese diplomats reiterated their intention to ignore concrete recommendations to cease some of the most blatant human rights violations in their country.
The UPR – a Human Rights Council review in which States examine each other’s rights every five years and make recommendations for improvements – relies upon a government’s good faith engagement. Beijing’s dismissal of recommendations echoing UN findings, seeking access to the whole territory for UN experts, and its acts of intimidation against civil society trying to join the review, removed any doubt on its lack of goodwill.
In a joint statement delivered at the Human Rights Council after China’s remarks, , 29 NGOs urged China to ‘genuinely engage with the UN to enact meaningful reforms’ in line with the recommendations from the UN’s Xinjiang report, UN Treaty Bodies and UN Special Rapporteurs.
