The EU welcomes the release of the assessment report of human rights concerns in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights underscores the serious human rights violations occurring in Xinjiang, which, according to the report, may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity. The report in particular refers to the existence of a large network of political re-education camps, mass arbitrary detentions, widespread surveillance, tracking and control measures, systemic and severe restrictions on the exercise of fundamental freedoms, including freedom of religion or belief, as well as the use of forced labour, torture, forced abortion and sterilisation, birth control and family separation policies, and sexual and gender-based violence.

As the report states, the human rights situation in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region requires urgent attention by the Chinese Government, the United Nations, in particular its human rights bodies, as well as the international community more broadly. The EU joins the call by UN experts reporting to the Human Rights Council to closely monitor, report, and assess the human rights situation in China.