China continues to violate obligations, abuse international bodies: Report

Hong Kong: China is continuously violating international obligations and has been involved in the abuse of international bodies through its political, economic clout and unconstrained power, a media report said.

Beijing has imposed ever more stringent measures against its minority communities and Chinese dissidents and has even signed extradition treaties with 59 nations, of which 39 are ratified. The country has misused the treaties to bring back Uyghurs, Tibetans and other Chinese dissidents from other countries, reported Hong Kong Free Press.

The communist regime has also been involved in misusing Interpol’s Red Notice system by issuing politically motivated “red notice”-seeking the arrest and extradition of Chinese dissidents and others whom China deems problematic, the Hong Kong Free Press report said.

In 2015, China had issued 100 notices while in 2016, the number surged to 612.

Using Interpol as a mechanism to bring back dissidents from other countries, Beijing misused Interpol and violated Article 3 of the Interpol constitution.

Article 3 “strictly forbids the organisation to undertake any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character”, said Hong Kong Free Press.

According to the publication, four independent UN Human Rights Experts and bodies have called the rising case of detained Tibetans a “worrying pattern of arbitrary and incommunicado detentions, closed trials, and unknown charges and verdicts against Tibetan religious minority in China, some of them amounting to enforced disappearances. The issue was also raised during the 48th Session of the Human Rights Council. Kai Mueller, Executive Director, International Campaign for Tibet-Germany, raised cases of arbitrary detentions and the disappearance of Tibetans.”

Zumretay Arkin from World Uyghur Congress stated in UNHRC 48th session that in 2009, the Cambodian authorities deported 22 Uyghurs to China whereas, in 2017, the Egyptian government extradited 22 Uyghur students at the request of the People’s Republic of China, which led to their disappearance, reported Hong Kong Free Press.

Moreover, since 2015, 109 Uyghurs in Thailand have been held in detention centres, but their whereabouts remain unknown. Uyghurs are constantly living in fear of being extradited to China, not for having committed any crimes, but for being Uyghur, according to Hong Kong Free Press.