By Tsering Dhundup
DHARAMSHALA, July 18: The United States State Department is taking action to impose visa restrictions on Chinese officials involved in human rights violations in Tibet and East Turkistan.
In a statement issued on Friday, July 12 by Mathew Miller, the United States State Department spokesperson stated, “The United States continues to promote accountability in the defence of human rights in China. Today, the State Department is taking steps to impose visa restrictions on People’s Republic of China (PRC) officials for their involvement in the repression of marginalized religious and ethnic communities.
The PRC has not lived up to its commitments to respect and protect human rights, as demonstrated by the ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, the erosion of fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong, persistent human rights abuses in Tibet, and transnational repression around the world. We call on the PRC to abide by the principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to accept the many recommendations made this year during the Universal Periodic Review of its human rights record, including unconditionally releasing PRC nationals it has arbitrarily and unjustly detained”.
On June 11, 2024, the UN released the Chinese government’s response to the recommendations from the latest Universal Periodic Review (UPR) conducted in January 2024 revealing that China would accept 290 out of 428 recommendations, partially accept 8, note 32, and reject 98. However, these accepted recommendations exclude addressing the concerns raised by UN member states regarding severe human rights abuses in Tibet and East Turkistan, such as crimes against humanity, torture, forced disappearances, and the persecution of human rights defenders and journalists.
The Chinese government’s approach to the UPR review, consistent with its tactics in previous reviews in 2009, 2013, and 2018, involved submitting misleading information and preventing domestic civil society groups from contributing to the state report or the review process. Additionally, through a vigorous lobbying campaign, China influenced several states to pose benign questions, make vague recommendations, and praise its human rights record. This strategy resulted in many weak recommendations that the Chinese government could easily accept, thus creating a facade of compliance while avoiding substantial reforms.
Despite the heavy pressure, some countries took a principled approach, raising concerns, and making recommendations, based on the growing body of evidence of abuses compiled by NGOs, UN special procedures, treaty bodies and the UN Human Rights Office.
