- Zelensky denies ceasefire with Russia under discussion on trip
- Florida battered by hurricane, floods but spared 'worst-case scenario'
- After long fight for glory, Nadal leaves with a legacy of memories
- Home hopes Zheng and Wang through to last-eight in Wuhan Open
- UN peacekeepers say Israel fired on Lebanon HQ, injuring 2
- UK's William and Kate in first joint public engagement since cancer treatment
- Alcaraz out as top players pay tribute to Nadal at Shanghai Masters
- Racing's Farrell 'not thinking' about British and Irish Lions
- Alcaraz, Sinner pay tribute to 'unbelievable' Nadal at Shanghai Masters
- Over 200 women in legal talks with Harrods over Fayed abuse claims
- After K-pop, K-novels? South Korean Nobel win sparks joy, hope at home
- After Nadal exit, Djokovic left to rage against dying of the light
- A very stiff breeze: BBC says sorry for 20,000 kph wind forecast
- Triple centurion Brook happy to break Dad's club record
- Zelensky touts 'victory plan' against Russia in Macron talks
- Musk finally unveiling his long-promised robotaxi
- UN peacekeepers accuses Israel of firing on Lebanon HQ
- London's Frieze art fair goes potty for ceramics
- Southgate taking year out from coaching
- US, Europe stocks fall on US inflation data
- Zelensky meets Macron in Paris as part of European tour
- Hurricane Milton shreds Florida stadium roof
- UN probe accuses Israel of seeking to 'destroy' Gaza healthcare
- US consumer inflation eases to 2.4% in September
- England in sight of victory after Brook's triple hundred
- Juventus readmitted to ECA after failed Super League revolt
- World number 2 Alcaraz knocked out of Shanghai Masters by Machac
- Leaders of Egypt, Eritrea, Somalia meet amid regional tensions
- Klopp's Red Bull decision 'ruined life's work' say Dortmund fans
- Han Kang wins South Korea's first literature Nobel
- S. Korea's Nobel winner Han Kang a modest, thought-provoking writer
- Hurricane Milton tornadoes kill four in Florida amid rescue efforts
- The almost impossible job: Beating Rafael Nadal at the French Open
- New French government faces key test with budget plan
- Rescuers say Israeli strike on Gaza school kills 28
- Italy's ex-world champion gymnast Ferrari announces retirement
- Zelensky talks 'victory plan' in meeting with Starmer, Rutte
- South Korea's Han Kang wins literature Nobel
- Federer lauds retiring Nadal's 'incredible achievements'
- Ikea posts fall in annual sales after lowering prices
- Australia beat China 3-1 to resurrect World Cup campaign
- Stock markets diverge, oil gains after China rebounds
- Nadal defied injury woes in record-breaking career
- Nadal v Djokovic, French Open, 2006: Chapter One in epic rivalry
- World can't 'waste time' trading climate change blame: COP29 hosts
- Pakistan at 23-1 after Brook triple hundred takes England to 823-7
- Zelensky meets Starmer, Rutte on whirlwind tour of Europe
- South Korean same-sex couples make push for marriage equality
- Rafael Nadal calls time on epic tennis career
- Mumbai declares day of mourning for Indian industrialist Ratan Tata
RBGPF | 4.03% | 63.35 | $ | |
RYCEF | 0% | 6.9 | $ | |
CMSC | 0.16% | 24.56 | $ | |
RELX | -0.59% | 46.435 | $ | |
GSK | -1.91% | 39.485 | $ | |
BP | 0.91% | 32.275 | $ | |
AZN | -0.77% | 76.915 | $ | |
NGG | 0.47% | 65.94 | $ | |
BTI | -0.5% | 35.305 | $ | |
RIO | 0.35% | 66.58 | $ | |
SCS | -3.04% | 12.645 | $ | |
BCC | -1.32% | 140.54 | $ | |
JRI | -0.07% | 13.211 | $ | |
VOD | -0.31% | 9.7 | $ | |
BCE | -1.15% | 32.93 | $ | |
CMSD | 0.26% | 24.745 | $ |
UN inaction on China abuses 'huge disappointment': Uyghur campaigner
The UN rights chief has miserably failed to address China's "genocide" against the Uyghur minority, a leading campaigner told AFP, demanding that a long-delayed report on abuses be released "immediately".
Uyghur campaigner Rushan Abbas, who is American, decried that Michelle Bachelet had, to date, been so restrained in her criticism of the well-reported rights violations taking place in China's far-western Xinjiang region.
"I am very, very disappointed in her," Abbas told AFP on the sidelines of the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy, insisting that what is happening "is clearly genocide".
If the UN high commissioner for human rights herself "does not defend the founding principles of the United Nations and fundamental rights... who is going to be out there to defend innocent people like my sister?"
"We have been begging for her to speak up, to do something," said Abbas, who maintains her activism led to China detaining her sister, retired doctor Gulshan Abbas, almost four years ago.
She said she had been very hopeful when Bachelet, a former Chilean president and torture survivor, became the UN rights chief in 2018.
"We thought she was going to remember and defend justice," she said, lamenting that instead Bachelet has been all but "silent".
"There can be no neutrality in genocide."
The US government and lawmakers in a number of other Western countries have also labelled China's treatment of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang "genocide" -- a charge Beijing vehemently denies.
Rights groups say that at least one million mostly Muslim minorities have been incarcerated in "re-education camps" in the region, and face widespread rights abuses, including forced sterilisation and forced labour.
- 'What is she waiting for?' -
Bachelet has issued cautious criticism, but observers suggest she has refrained from more forceful statements as she has strived to negotiate a visit to Xinjiang with "meaningful and unfettered access".
She recently announced that an agreement had finally been reached and she will visit the region in May.
Rights groups welcomed the visit, but voiced concern it might delay further a long-postponed report by Bachelet's office on the rights situation in Xinjiang.
Diplomatic sources say the report has been ready since last August.
"She needs to release that report. She has all the evidence," Abbas insisted, asking: "What is she waiting for? The green light from the Chinese government?"
Abbas insisted publishing the report was more important than the visit, which would certainly be "staged, with coached interviews", and used by Beijing for "propaganda".
"If she doesn't release the report, and if she doesn't have unfettered access, which she will not... this trip will hurt the Uyghur people."
Abbas meanwhile said that if Bachelet does go, she hopes she will ask to meet with her sister, whom she has not heard from since her "abduction" in September 2018.
"At least give us a proof of life," she said. "I don't know where she is, what kind of health situation she has."
- 'Hypocrisy' -
Abbas also slammed the "hypocrisy" of countries and companies continuing to do business with China, pointing to the stark difference in the reaction to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
"All those companies rightfully left Russia so quickly, but they're all doing business in China," she said, suggesting the different approach might be because "these companies are not making enough money in Russia."
"But everybody has double standards when it comes to (China's) genocide," she said, insisting that in the "information era, the 21st century, no one can claim ignorance" about what is happening in Xinjiang.
Abbas hailed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's blistering address to the UN this week, and his call for it to "dissolve" if it could not act to halt atrocities in his country.
"I couldn't agree with him more," she said.
The UN's lack of action "has been a huge disappointment for Uyghurs, and now they are being a huge disappointment for President Zelensky and the Ukrainian people.
"They must act."
M.Fischer--AMWN