India, Ukraine among 11 nations to abstain as UNHRC rejects debate on Xinjiang
Xinjiang
India and Ukraine are among 11 countries that abstained as the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Thursday (October 6) voted against holding a debate on alleged widespread abuses in China's Xinjiang region.
This is a major setback for Western nations, which accused China of human rights violations. Some countries said that Beijing detained more than one million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities, with the US even further accusing China of mass detention, torture, forced labour and genocide in Xinjiang.
The first draft decision was presented by the United States and its allies last month to target China at the UN's top rights body.
After the voting, US ambassador to the council Michele Taylor tweeted: "The United States condemns today's vote preventing a discussion about Xinjiang." Taylor said that inaction "shamefully suggests some countries are free from scrutiny and allowed to violate human rights with impunity".
The US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Turkey were among others to put forward the draft decision.
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Apart from India and Ukraine, Argentina, Armenia, Benin, Brazil, Gambia, Libya, Malawi, Malaysia, and Mexico also abstained.
Bolivia, Cameroon, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Gabon, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Kazakhstan, Mauritania, Namibia, Nepal, Pakistan, Qatar, Senegal, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Venezuela are the nations that voted against the debate.
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China's ambassador Chen Xu said the push to discuss the issue was "taking advantage" of the United Nations "to interfere in China's internal affairs".
"The draft decision is not pro-human rights but for political manipulation," he told the council.
"Today China is targeted; tomorrow any other developing country could be targeted."
(With inputs from agencies)
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