Wellington, MINA – The New Zealand parliament on Wednesday called China’s treatment of Uighurs in Xinjiang province a “gross human rights violation.”
All parties in the parliament supported the motion submitted by the Deputy Chairman of the ACT Party, Brooke van Velden.
The motion was debated after the removal of the word “genocide” from the text following objections from the ruling Labor Party.
“Our conscience requires that we support this movement, we know that genocide is going on. It doesn’t need war, it doesn’t need to be sudden, it can be slow and deliberate and that’s what happened here,” said Velden as quoted from Anadolu Agency on Thursday.
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New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta said that while the government has not described the treatment of Uighurs as genocide, the government has directly expressed their concern about the situation with the Chinese government.
“Genocide is the most serious international crime and formal legal decisions should only be reached after a rigorous assessment on the basis of international law. International courts have asked for fully convincing evidence before reaching conclusions,” he said.
New Zealand’s foreign minister called on China to uphold its human rights obligations and responded to the concerns of the international community.
China is accused of discriminating against Muslim minority groups in the autonomous region of Xinjiang. (T/RE1)
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