New Zealand yesterday shied away from labeling China’s treatment of its Uighur Muslim minority genocide, once again leaving Wellington out of step with its Western allies.
The New Zealand Parliament unanimously passed a motion expressing “grave concern” at human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region, but only after New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s ruling Labour Party insisted that any reference to genocide be scrubbed out.
New Zealand Member of Parliament Brooke van Velden said that, while allies such as the US, Britain and Canada had called what was taking place genocide, it was “intolerable” that New Zealand refused to use the
The Chinese side deplores and firmly opposes such action, a spokesperson said.
China has always denied accusations it abuses the indigenous population, but over recent years, a large number of independent reports have found about 1 million Uighur Muslims are confined to concentration camps subject to torture and forced sterilisation as authorities try to eradicate their religion and suppress birth rates.
As it always does when confronted with questions about Xinjiang, the Chinese Embassy goes on to say that camps in the north-western province are for vocational education and counter-terrorism.
It claims people in the region are living a safe and happy life . However, that runs counter to the testimonials of many who have escaped Xinjiang or know of relatives trapped there. Rizwangul Nurmuhammad, a Uighur in New Zealand, last month told Newshub Nation that she hasn t heard from her brother in China since 2017 and fears he is being subjected to inhuman treatment.
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New Zealand accuses China of human rights abuses but not genocide Linda Lew linda.lew@scmp.com “Our conscience demands that if we believe there is a genocide, we should say so,” Brooke van Velden, deputy leader of the Act party, said. Photo: Getty Images
The New Zealand Parliament unanimously passed a motion that called the treatment of Uygurs in China s Xinjiang region severe human rights abuses , which was watered down from a previous version that included the term genocide .
Brought by the opposition Act party, the motion could not have been debated in Parliament without the support of the ruling Labour Party, which objected to the term genocide .