Blinken: Chinese govt continues to commit 'genocide' in Xinjiang

Washington [US], March 1 : The United States on Tuesday called on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet to publish its report on the situation concerning human rights of Uyghurs in Xinjiang and said that the Chinese government continues to commit 'genocide' in the region.
"In China, the government continues to commit genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang against predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other minority groups. We urge the High Commissioner to release without delay her report on the situation there," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
Blinken was addressing the 49th session of the UN Human Rights Council at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.
The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region is the largest province in China with a population of 25 million people from various ethnic groups, but about 43% of them are Uyghurs, most of whom are Muslim. The region, bordering seven countries, including Afghanistan and Pakistan, has been considered an epicenter of terrorism and extremism for many years, reported Sputnik.
At the end of August 2018, experts from the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination reported that up to 1 million ethnic Uyghurs could be in so-called "re-education camps" in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
Beijing has denied the existence of "re-education camps" on numerous occasions, insisting that the country is fully complying with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.