PRESS RELEASE : Ambassador Manley statement on Xinjiang [October 2022]
The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 6 October 2022.
Ambassador Simon Manley, Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, made the below comments following the vote on whether the UN Human Rights Council should hold a debate on the situation of human rights in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China.
Ambassador Simon Manley, the UK’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, said:
Given the gravity of the report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights which found that China has carried out serious human rights violations including possible ‘crimes against humanity’ in Xinjiang, it is important that UN members are given the opportunity to consider it fully. China’s attempts to stifle debate and hide the truth will not succeed.
Today’s vote sent a clear message to China: that a significant number of countries will not be silenced when it comes to egregious human rights violations – no matter where and by whom they are committed. We will continue to work with our partners to hold the Chinese authorities to account and to shine a spotlight on China’s human rights violations.
