For exiled Uyghurs, U.N. report on China is vindication

BEIJING — When Zumret Dawut heard that the United Nations had declared that China’s crackdown in its far-western Xinjiang region may constitute crimes against humanity, she burst into tears.

Her mind flashed back to her cellmates in the camp she was detained in, to her father who died while in Xinjiang police custody. She felt vindicated.

“I felt there was justice, that there are people who care in this world,” she said. “I felt like our testimonies, our efforts to raise awareness have finally paid off.”

For Dawut and other camp survivors now outside China, the U.N.’S report on mass detentions and other rights abuses against Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups in Xinjiang was the culmination of years of advocacy, a welcome acknowledgement of abuses they say they faced at the hands of the Chinese state.

The long-delayed assessment released late Wednesday by the

U.N. human rights office in Geneva concluded that China has committed serious human rights violations under its anti-terrorism and anti-extremism policies and called for “urgent attention” from the U.N., the world community and China itself to address them.

The report was at the center of a tug-of-war between rights groups and the Chinese government. It largely corroborates earlier reporting by researchers, activist groups and the news media, while steering away from estimates and other findings that cannot be definitively proven.

The significance of the assessment, survivors say, is the weight and authority of the United Nations. Though individual governments have criticized the crackdown before, such declarations were brushed aside by Beijing as political attacks by Western countries.