Germany, Western allies slam China's human rights record, call for acceptance of Uyghurs as refugees

In a United Nations speech on Tuesday, supported by 38 other countries, Germany criticised China's human rights record and called on the world to accept persecuted Uyghur Muslims as refugees, reported South China Morning Post.

The group of mostly Western countries, represented by Berlin's ambassador to the United Nations, Christoph Heusgen, expressed "deep concerns" over the controversial national security law imposed by Beijing in Hong Kong, which allows people to be sent to mainland China for trials.

Beijing and its UN allies also retaliated, rejecting what they deemed interference in "China's internal affairs".

"We are gravely concerned about the human rights situation in Xinjiang and the recent developments in Hong Kong," Heusgen said in a UN general debate, as quoted by SCMP.

"In view of our concerns about the human rights situation in Xinjiang, we call on all countries to respect the principle of non-refoulement," he added.

Xinjiang region is home to around 10 million Uyghurs. The Turkic Muslim group, which makes up around 45 per cent of Xinjiang's population, has long accused China's authorities of cultural, religious and economic discrimination.

About 7 per cent of the Muslim population in Xinjiang, has been incarcerated in an expanding network of "political re-education" camps, according to US officials and UN experts.

Classified documents known as the China Cables, accessed last year by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, threw light on how the Chinese government uses technology to control Uyghur Muslims worldwide.

However, China regularly denies such mistreatment and says the camps provide vocational training.

People in the internment camps have described being subjected to forced political indoctrination, torture, beatings, and denial of food and medicine, and say they have been prohibited from practising their religion or speaking their language.

Now, as Beijing denies these accounts, it also refuses to allow independent inspections into the regions, at the same time, which further fuels reports related to China's atrocities on the minority Muslims.

( With inputs from ANI )