Dear Minister Freeland,
I write to you on behalf of the members of the Canadian Coalition on Human Rights in China listed below with an urgent request. As you know, China’s human rights record will be in the global spotlight tomorrow when the country is examined under the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic review process for the first time since 2013. As always, there are many pressing human rights concerns that merit attention as states present their questions and recommendations for reform to China. We have welcomed the opportunity to engage with your officials, as part of our annual consultation meeting and through written submissions, as to issues we hope Canada will highlight.
We are writing on the eve of the UPR review to highlight the crucial importance that as part of its intervention Canada raise concern, press for answers and demand an end to China’s campaign of imprisonment, arbitrary punishment and torture, which has resulted in the mass internment of more than one million Uighurs and other predominantly Muslim people in the country’s Xinjiang Region (East Turkistan) since early 2017. It is a devasting human rights crisis both in its scale and severity, and has had agonizing impact on Canadian citizens of Uighur origin who have no news about the fate of their loved ones. We look to Canada forcefully and unequivocally to insist on accountability and an end to this cruel persecution.
Sincerely,
Alex Neve, Secretary General
Amnesty International Canada (English branch)
In solidarity with
Canada-Hong Kong Link
Canada Tibet Committee
Federation for a Democratic China
Students for a Free Tibet Canada
Toronto Association for Democracy in China
Uyghur Canadian Society
Vancouver Society in Support of Democratic Movement