Photographer: Simon Dawson / Bloomberg
Photographer: Simon Dawson / Bloomberg
UK Foreign Minister Dominic Raab will appeal to the United Nations to take action against “systemic” human rights violations in China, Myanmar, Russia and Belarus in a speech at the Human Rights Council of the UN on Monday.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Raab will say that the situation in the Chinese province of Xinjiang is “beyond limits” and that the reported abuses – including torture, forced labor and sterilization of women – are taking place on an “industrial scale”.
Raab will ask the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to have “urgent and unrestricted access” to Xinjiang, the Foreign Ministry said in an e-mailed statement.
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This occurs at the moment when the United Kingdom returns to the UN Human Rights Council, which is made up of 47 UN member states, as a voting member.
Raab will also highlight violations and abuses in Myanmar, including arbitrary detention and “draconian” restrictions on freedom of expression. He will ask the Southeast Asian country’s military to withdraw and civilian leaders to be released, the Foreign Ministry said.
In Russia, Raab will point to the “shameful” treatment of opposition leader Alexey Navalny and warn that the country is “failing to meet its international obligations”. He will also declare a “human rights crisis” in Belarus after President Alexander Lukashenko’s “brutal repression” against the protesters.