Reports from the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) have shed light on alarming human rights violations against women and children in China. In a recent UNHRC side event titled “Findings of the UN Women’s Rights Committee on China: Perspectives of affected communities,” female activists from regions including Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong openly criticized the Chinese government’s treatment of its female population.
The Committee of the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) called out the Chinese government in its May observations. According to ANI news, CEDAW emphasized its concerns over forced residential school systems, especially for Tibetan girls, and recommended the establishment and subsidization of private Tibetan schools.
Moreover, CEDAW’s recommendations address grave issues affecting Uyghur women in the Xinjiang province. ANI news quoted the report, highlighting the need to prevent and criminalize forced abortions, sterilizations, and other cruel family planning practices alleged to be rampant in the region.
Zumretay Arkin of the World Uyghur Congress expressed her concerns in an interview with ANI, revealing that “Uyghur women are facing multiple challenges such as extrajudicial detentions in concentration camps.” She added, “Beyond this, there are also forced marriages between Uyghur women and Han (Chinese) men,” while also mentioning concerns about Uyghur women subjected to forced labour in small factories.
Another pressing issue raised by Zumretay is the forced sterilization of Uyghur women. She remarked, “I think this is great concern that we have is forced sterilisation that started in recent years with this ongoing campaign that the Chinese government has been carrying.”
Pema Doma, a Tibetan-born human rights and climate activist, spoke vehemently against the coerced residential schooling system imposed on Tibetan girls. Quoted in ANI news, she asserted, “The Chinese government has shown an unwillingness to listen to the international committee’s calls to listen to the voices of Tibetans from inside Tibet and around the world.”
Both Linda Wong, a lawyer from Hong Kong, and Faye Chan from Chinese Human Rights Defenders, participated virtually in the UNHRC side event.
The UN’s report, as mentioned by ANI, also underscores the significance of linguistic rights, advising that China ensures that ethnic minority girls and women receive instruction in their native languages and opposes the shutting down of schools that offer instruction in these languages.
With the UN spotlight firmly on China’s treatment of its women and children, the international community awaits Beijing’s response to these grave allegations.
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