VIt was clear from the start that this vote would be symbolic. It would show how great China’s influence is in the bodies of the United Nations. On Thursday afternoon it was clear: Beijing has enough power to prevent even a debate about human rights violations in Xinjiang. The United States and nine other countries deliberately introduced a conspicuously neutral draft resolution. It simply said that the Human Rights Council “notes with interest” the report by former High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on the human rights situation in Xinjiang and decides to hold a debate on it at the Council’s next meeting in February.
17 countries voted in favor, 19 countries against. Eleven countries abstained. It would have been enough to get more yes votes than no votes. When the result was announced, representatives of China and its supporters clapped. The chairperson called them to order in the name of the “dignity” of the council.
Worried about such a symbolic defeat, Western countries have always avoided putting a draft resolution on China to the vote. Instead, they had submitted joint statements, which countries could join by signing. However, following the release of the Bachelet report at the end of August, some countries felt the need to seize the momentum and risk defeat. Bachelet published the report in late August just minutes before she left office. It states that “serious violations of human rights” are being committed in Xinjiang that “may constitute crimes against humanity.”
The United States tabled the draft resolution along with Britain, the Scandinavian countries, Australia, Lithuania, Canada, Iceland and Denmark. Germany did not join the group, probably because it wanted to focus more on a resolution to appoint a special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Russia, which will be voted on this Friday. Presumably there was also a concern that fewer countries might be willing to vote against China and Russia at the same time or abstain.
Beijing can rely on supporters
China had previously pulled out all the stops. Whole groups of diplomats had pressured the representatives of undecided countries in Geneva. Some countries reported numerous calls in their capitals. Concern that China could cut back on promised investments in the countries may have played a role in their voting behavior. A spokesman for the Xinjiang government had previously threatened “countermeasures” in Geneva. “We are ready for battle,” he had said.
By late Wednesday evening, supporters of the draft resolution had campaigned for approval. Until the very end, it was unclear how the vote would turn out. Ukraine, whose yes vote Western countries were probably hoping for, abstained. Beijing, on the other hand, is likely to be particularly upset that Japan once again expressed “deep concern about the human rights situation in Xinjiang” at the meeting. Indonesia voted against the resolution alongside China’s usual backers such as Pakistan, Venezuela, Eritrea and Cuba. One does not turn a blind eye to human rights violations against Muslims, but does not expect any progress for the situation of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang from the initiative, Jakarta explained.
Hopes for the appointment of a special rapporteur on Xinjiang should therefore be off the table for the time being. The new High Commissioner for Human Rights, Austria’s Volker Türk, could decide in his own right to present the Bachelet report at the next Human Rights Council meeting next year.
In its reactions to the report, which China has described as “perverse”, among other things, it has so far not attempted to refute individual content. That could be because the report is largely based on Chinese government documents. This was also pointed out by the American Ambassador for Human Rights in Geneva, Michèle Taylor. Meanwhile, China’s supporters, in some cases literally, brought the same arguments as Beijing itself.
