As delivered – as prepared statement will be sent separately to HRC Secretariat

Madame High Commissioner,

As you must be aware, the human rights situation in China remains dire. Major research reports published in the last two months independently reach the same conclusion: the Chinese government is committing crimes against humanity against its Turkic Muslim population. The international community, this Council, and your Office cannot remain silent.

We request that you urgently strengthen monitoring and initiate public reporting on the human rights situation across China.

This is essential to providing objective, independent and concrete information to all stakeholders, and to seeking constructive solutions to protect vulnerable populations from further abuse.

In your last update to this Council, you pointed to the curtailment of fundamental rights and freedoms in the name of national security, especially targeting Uyghurs and Tibetans; restrictions on free speech and detentions linked to the Covid-19 response; the investigation of protesters in Hong Kong; and arbitrary arrest, and unfair trials of lawyers, journalists and defenders.

In the months since, little has changed. More is needed.

We acknowledge your call for unfettered access to ‘all regions of China’. We emphasise that access is not a prerequisite for accountability. Ongoing negotiations should not delay urgently needed action.

Human rights violations across China, Uyghur and Tibetan regions, as well as Hong Kong have become increasingly severe over the last years, even while Chinese authorities have consistently denied meaningful cooperation. We are here as allies, but the victims and communities urgently need you, your Office, and the UN as a whole to respond.

Thank you.

1. Amnesty International
2. Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
3. Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
4. Campaign for Uyghurs China Aid Association
5. CIVICUS
6. Clean Clothes Campaign CSW (Christian Solidarity Worldwide)
7. DefendDefenders (East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project)
8. Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
9. Human Rights Watch
10. International Bar Association – Human Rights Institute
11. International Campaign for Tibet
12. International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
13. International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
14. International Tibet Network Secretariat
15. René Cassin, the Jewish voice for human rights
16. Safeguard Defenders
17. Students for a Free Tibet
18. The Rights Practice
19. Tibet Initiative Deutschland e.V.
20. Tibet Justice Initiative
21. Uyghur Human Rights Project
22. Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project
23. World Uyghur Congress