Uyghur community holds photo exhibition in Vienna

A photo exhibition was organised by the Uyghur Association in Vienna on September 22 to showcase ongoing human rights abuses in China's Xinjiang province.

The event was organised at the popular Stephansplatz square in Vienna.

Mevlan Dilsat, Uyghur community President in Vienna, gave a speech where he highlighted the atrocities done by the Chinese Community Party (CCP) and the inhuman conditions in concentration camps in the Xinjiang region.

The photo exhibition which also saw the participation of World Uyghur Congress President Dolkun Isa, showcased pictures of people stuck in concentration camps and who went missing in the Xinjiang region.

A day earlier, Dolkun Isa held a meeting with Austrian parliamentarian Gudrun Kugler, and concentration camp survivor Saraygul Sauttbay. Green Party member Ewa Ernst Dziedzic was also present at the meeting.

During the meeting, Dolkun Isa requested help from the parliamentarian and Green Party members to recognise the Genocide against Uyghur and asked for support.

Earlier this month, independent UN experts said that profound concerns over systematic human rights violations and their widespread effect on individuals and minorities in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region cannot, and should not, be ignored by the international community.

In a statement, UN Human Rights Office said the experts repeated a call for the Human Rights Council to convene a special session on China.

In supporting the recently released assessment by the UN Human Rights Office on allegations of abuses in Xinjiang, the experts highlighted the conclusion from the assessment that "the extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim minorities ... may constitute international crimes, in particular, crimes against humanity".

"They also drew attention to the report's findings of credible allegations of patterns of torture or ill-treatment, including forced medical treatment and adverse conditions of detention, as well as incidents of sexual and gender-based violence including invasive gynaecological exams, and indications of coercive enforcement of family planning and birth control policies," the UN Human Rights said.

The experts described the assessment, released on August 31, as comprehensive and principled, adding that it built on and backed the findings and views of multiple Special Procedure mandate holders and Working Groups.

The experts welcomed the attention given in the report to widespread misuse of counter-terrorism and counter-extremism laws, policies and practice.

The experts are particularly concerned that both UN human rights mechanisms in tandem with this assessment demonstrate that "China's policies and practices have limited the legitimate exercise of the right to freedom of religion or belief."

They said Beijing's policies have also constrained the "right to family life including reproductive rights for women, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to assemble and associate peacefully, the right to privacy, the right to cultural life, and the right to live free from arbitrary detention, forced labour as well as freedom from any violation of the right to life and from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment."