Even with the politically-correct attempt to downplay horrific human rights abuses and placate the Chinese Communist Party, the report is damning.
The United Nations has released their report into allegations of human rights abuses in the Xinjiang Province of China.
Given how much the UN tries to avoid upsetting China, and how they love to use carefully-crafted politically-correct language to avoid coming to any firm conclusions, the report is quite damning.
Clearly, the UN went as far as they thought they could without straight up saying the Chinese Communist Party government was committing egregious crimes against humanity.
The fact that report was released at all – despite immense pressure by the CCP for it to be shelved – demonstrates that there remains a vestige of the original high ideals of the United Nations.
In the report, the UN found that the “arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim groups … may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity”.
The report also included the following findings:
“Allegations of patterns of torture or ill-treatment, including forced medical treatment and adverse conditions of detention, are credible, as are allegations of individual incidents of sexual and gender-based violence”
“Credible indications of violations of reproductive rights through the coercive enforcement of family planning policies since 2017”
“Similarly, there are indications that labour and employment schemes for purported purposes of poverty alleviation and prevention of ‘extremism’… may involve elements of coercion and discrimination on religious and ethnic grounds”
You can see how the UN is trying to word everything carefully, yet their conclusions are clear.
China has been using forced sterilization, the break-up of families, mass detention in concentration camps, and slave labour, torture, and propaganda indoctrination to try and destroy the Uyghur People.
This is everything the Western world condemns when we say “never again.”
What does this mean for Canada?
This should intensify efforts by our country to further distance ourselves from China.
We must become more economically self-sufficient, or at the very least reliant upon allies in democratic countries instead of reliant upon a ruthless authoritarian communist state.
Additionally, we must reject politicians who were glad to cozy up to China.
Politicians like Justin Trudeau – who expressed his admiration for the CCP – and Jean Charest – who worked for CCP-controlled Huawei, should be considered disqualified from holding power. We cannot have leaders who would sell out the soul of our nation.
Indeed, anyone considering supporting Jean Charest should keep in mind that Huawei was linked to human rights abuses in Xinjiang:
“Huawei was involved in building technology for labor and reeducation camps, as well as surveillance systems in China’s Xinjiang region, according to PowerPoint presentations obtained and translated by The Washington Post. The report shows some of the ways the tech giant’s work may have been involved in the persecution against ethnic minorities in the region.
The Washington Post says it obtained the PowerPoints from a public Huawei site before they were taken down. According to the report, the slides included details on Huawei’s involvement with other companies in creating several systems and had metadata dating them anywhere from 2014 to 2020 (with copyright dates being listed from 2016 to 2018).”
Why would anyone want to vote for a candidate who was willing to work for Huawei?
Remembering our values
Sometimes, it takes seeing the horrendous actions of another country’s government to remember what we stand for.
Canada is built upon a legacy of freedom, and we have fought for freedom against authoritarian regimes.
The idea that people of different backgrounds can live together in a free nation, free to speak our minds, free to prosper, and free from the fear of a violent authoritarian state, is what Canada is – at our best – all about.
That idea is under attack from both within and without, and we would do well to remind ourselves what we stand for before it is fully lost.
So, as we consider the UN report into China’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang, it should be a wake up call to all Canadians that freedom must be defended with strength and courage.
Spencer Fernando
Photo – YouTube