UN rights body rejects Western bid to debate Xinjiang abuses Geneva
Geneva(AP:) At the 47-member state Human Rights Council, 17 countries voted in favor, 19 were against, and 11 abstained in a vote to hold a debate on Xinjiang at its next session in March.
The vote amounted to a test of political and diplomatic clout between the West and Beijing and would have marked the first time that China's record on human rights would merit a specific agenda item at the council.
The result, prompting a smattering of applause in the chamber, followed days of diplomatic arm-twisting in Geneva and in many national capitals as leading Western countries tried to build momentum on a report from former UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet's office, released on August 31, which found that possible crimes against humanity had occurred in Xinjiang.
A simple majority of voting countries was required.
China locked down no votes among its usual allies, plus many African countries and the Persian Gulf states Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Somalia was the only African country, and the only member state of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, to vote yes.
Turkey is in the OIC but doesn't have a council seat right now. Argentina, Brazil, India, Malaysia, Mexico, and Ukraine were among the countries that abstained.
The make-up of the council rotates among UN member states each year, and China a powerful country with a permanent seat on the Security Council has never been the subject of a country-specific resolution at the council since it was founded more than 16 years ago.
It's always difficult for countries to vote against a permanent member of the Security Council," said one Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
He acknowledged it was a genuinely difficult call for some countries notably those with economic or political ties to China to sign on to the measure.
The proposal was just to hold a debate, with no consistent monitoring of the rights situation, and amounted to just about the least intrusive form of scrutiny that the council could seek.
The call stopped short of creating a team of investigators to look into possible crimes in Xinjiang, or appointing a special rapporteur a tacit acknowledgment by the Western countries that going after increasingly influential China would be a tall order.
Before the vote, Chinese ambassador Chen Xu said Beijing firmly opposes and categorically rejects the proposal.
He accused Western countries of seeking to turn a blind eye to their own issues on human rights and point a finger at others. He insisted that China never gave its support to Bachelet's report, and warned of a bad precedent.
Today China is targeted, Chen said. Tomorrow any other developing country could be targeted.
Michele Taylor, the US ambassador, said the request for the debate aimed simply to provide a neutral forum for discussion that would give China a chance to put its views on record and hear the views of others.
No country represented here today has a perfect human rights record, she said. No country, no matter how powerful, should be excluded from council discussions. This includes my country the United States and it includes the People's Republic of China.
On Friday, as part of dozens of proposals before the council, member states are also to consider a proposal from 26 European Union countries to appoint a special rapporteur on Russia, citing a string of concerns about mass arrests and detentions; harassment of journalists, opposition politicians, activists and rights defenders; and crackdowns at times violent on protesters against President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine.
It's part of a rare push against two permanent members of the Security Council: China and Russia. Some Western diplomats have insisted the two-pronged effort needed attention now.
The council has already commissioned a team of investigators who are looking into human rights violations and abuses in Ukraine following Putin's order for a military invasion of Ukraine in late February.
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Rajasthan man in search of his SUV assaulted, robbed in Bengaluru; one held
Bengaluru (PTI): A 32-year-old man from Rajasthan who travelled to Bengaluru to retrieve his missing SUV was allegedly assaulted and robbed, police said on Thursday.
The victim, Chandra Prakash, a resident of Jodhpur, had lent his SUV to his friend Mahendra Gujjar over a year ago on the assurance that it would be returned within a few weeks, they said.
When the vehicle was not returned, he lodged a complaint with the local police in Jodhpur last year, but no progress was made.
According to police, Prakash then allegedly used a mobile application to track his vehicle’s location and found that it was being driven in Bengaluru. On February 23, he reached the city with a spare key, located the SUV parked by the roadside in east Bengaluru and drove it away after unlocking it.
Around 11.10 pm, as he neared Bommanahalli Circle, three men on a two-wheeler intercepted him. When he questioned them, an argument ensued and the trio allegedly assaulted him with an iron rod and a helmet, a senior police officer said.
The accused allegedly robbed him of two mobile phones and fled with the SUV. Prakash sustained injuries and was shifted to a hospital for treatment, he said.
Based on his complaint, Mangilal Choudary (40), a businessman from Rajasthan, was arrested in connection with the incident, police said, adding that efforts are being made to nab the other two suspects.
During interrogation, Choudary told police he had extended a friendly loan to an acquaintance who defaulted and that the SUV was given as security, police said.
Gujjar had allegedly borrowed money from acquaintances and passed the vehicle to a friend of Choudary, who later returned it to him. The SUV and the two mobile phones have been recovered, they added.
