The Gambia is among 80 developing countries in the United Nations (UN) that have called for the respect of China’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity. The call was made last week in a statement, signed by The Gambia, at the general debate on human rights held by the UN’s General Assembly’s Third Committee that deals with social, cultural, and humanitarian issues.
“We oppose politicisation of human rights and double standards, or interference in States’ internal affairs under the pretext of human rights,” the statement reads.
At the heart of the matter is a statement by developed countries, such as the US, UK, France, Germany, Japan, and others, which said that they “have ongoing concerns about serious human rights violations in China.”
“Two years ago, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ assessment on Xinjiang, concluded that serious human rights violations had been committed in Xinjiang, and that the scale of the arbitrary and discriminatory detention of Uyghurs and other predominately Muslim minorities in Xinjiang ‘may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity,’” the developed countries’ statement reads.
They called on China “to uphold the international human rights obligations that it has voluntarily assumed, and to fully implement all UN recommendations including from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ assessment, Treaty Bodies and other United Nations human rights mechanisms.”
“This includes releasing all individuals arbitrarily detained in both Xinjiang and Tibet, and urgently clarifying the fate and whereabouts of missing family members,” the statement further said.
They also called on China for transparency and openness on the entire matter.
“Transparency and openness are key to allaying concerns, and we call on China to allow unfettered and meaningful access to Xinjiang and Tibet for independent observers, including from the UN, to evaluate the human rights situation,” the statement said.
“No country has a perfect human rights record, but no country is above fair scrutiny of its human rights obligations. It is incumbent on all of us not to undermine international human rights commitments that benefit us all, and for which all states are accountable.”
However, the developing countries including The Gambia in their statement pointed out that the issues are China’s internal affairs and called for non-interference by other countries.
“Respect for sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of states and non-interference in internal affairs of sovereign states represent basic norms governing international relations,” their statement said. “We maintain that all parties should abide by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, adhere to the principles of universality, impartiality, objectivity, and non-selectivity, and respect the right of the people of each state to choose independently the path for development in accordance with their national conditions. All human rights should be treated with the same emphasis, with sufficient importance attached to economic, social, and cultural rights and the right to development in particular.”
At the general debate, Zhang Jun, China’s permanent representative to the United Nations said the issues pointed out by the developed countries on his country’s human rights records are “lies” and “totally unfounded.”
He accused countries such as the US and UK of double standards when it comes to human rights.
“Countries like the United States and the United Kingdom have turned a blind eye to and covered up their own serious human rights violations such as racial discrimination while pointing fingers at and making groundless accusations against developing countries,” Zhang said.
“This double standard will find no support. I would like to point out that dialogue and cooperation represent the right way forward.”
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