China reports Australia to the UN for ‘human rights violations’ in offshore detention centres

In a scathing statement to the UN, China has blasted Australia’s use of offshore detention centres, expressing “deep concern” for the rights of asylum seekers.

China has issued a statement to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva expressing “deep concern” over the Australian government’s use of offshore detention centres.

The statement, issued on behalf of a group of unnamed “third countries”, accused the Australian government of violating the human rights of refugees. It said Australia failed to provide adequate medical conditions for asylum seekers who had been detained for an indefinite or long period of time.

“We urge Australia to immediately close down all offshore detention centres and take concrete steps to protect the rights of immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers, especially children,” it read.

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China has expressed ‘deep concern’ for asylum seekers in offshore detention

The accusations are in reference to Australia’s controversial treatment of asylum seekers who are intercepted and taken to a third country like Papua New Guinea or Nauru for processing until their refugee claims are decided.

After briefly pausing the program in 2008, the Labor government resumed the operation in 2012. To date 13 people have died while in detention.

China’s statement to the UN also touched on recent damning reports that accused Australian special forces of killing unarmed prisoners and civilians in Afghanistan between 2006 and 2016.

The investigation found that 25 current or former Australian Defence Force personnel were either involved in or accessories in these acts.

China urged Australia to conduct “comprehensive and fair investigations” in regards to the “serious war crimes” detailed in the report.

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has yet to comment on the claims which were submitted early in the morning on Saturday, March 13.

A DOUBLE STANDARD?

China’s attack on Australia comes after the editor-in-chief of state-owned newspaper the Global Times accused Australia of genocide over its treatment of Indigenous Australians.

“What’s genocide? Massacring native Americans and Aboriginal Australians, forcing people colonised to speak English, French, Spanish, transforming their way of life, these are genocide, right?” Hu Xijin tweeted,

What’s genocide? Massacring native Americans and Aboriginal Australians, forcing people colonized to speak English, French, Spanish, transforming their way of life, these are genocide, right?

— Hu Xijin 胡锡进 (@HuXijin_GT) March 10, 2021

It’s believed this was in response to Foreign Minister Marise Payne’s comments over China’s treatment of the Uighurs.

Up to one million members of the mostly Muslim ethnic minority group in the northwest region of Xinjiang have been detained in a network of “re-education” camps, where they have reportedly been subjected to the systematic sterilisation, rape, mass detention, abuse and torture.

Ms Payne said last month the government was aware of the “significant concerns with the human rights abuses in Xinjiang” and had raised them with Chinese officials.

“These latest reports of systematic torture and abuse of women are deeply disturbing and raise serious questions regarding the treatment of Uighurs and other religious and ethnic minorities in Xinjiang,” she said.

“We consider transparency to be of utmost importance and continue to urge China to allow international observers, including the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, to be given immediate, meaningful and unfettered access to Xinjiang at the earliest opportunity.”

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Members of Uighur minority protesting in Turkey. Picture: Ozan Kose/AFP

Ms Payne was responding to a report from the BBC, which included first-hand testimonials from former detainees about the horrific conditions.

“Police boots are very hard and heavy, so at first I thought he was beating me with something,” said Uighur woman Tursunay Ziawudun, recounting her experience of being interrogated by Chinese guards.

“Then I realised that he was trampling on my belly. I almost passed out – I felt a hot flush go through me.”

Ms Ziawudun said she also witnessed women being raped and tortured by masked men “every night” and said she was later gang-raped by two or three men on three occasions.

And while the China has vehemently denied accusations of human rights abuses or genocide, the international reaction has been damning.

On Thursday, a report published by Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy said the Chinese Communist Party was in clear breach on the UN’s 1948 Genocide Convention and said they were showing a clear “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group”.

“Uighurs are suffering serious bodily and mental harm from systematic torture and cruel treatment, including rape, sexual abuse, exploitation, and public humiliation … under Government-mandated programs,” the report said, adding detainees suffered from ​“brutal torture methods” that were “designed to indoctrinate and ‘wash clean’ brains”.

Addressing the accusations, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi continued to retaliate the claims, branding them as a “complete lie” and “a rumour with ulterior motives”.

“The so-called ‘genocide’ … is ridiculously absurd,” he said.