UN rights body rejects Western bid to debate Xinjiang abuses

By JAMEY KEATEN
Associated Press

GENEVA (AP) — In a close diplomatic victory for China, the U.N.’s top human rights body has voted down a proposal from Britain, Turkey, the United States and other mostly Western countries to hold a debate on alleged rights abuses against Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in China’s western Xinjiang region. At the 47-member state Human Rights Council, 17 countries voted in favor, 19 were against, and 11 abstained in a vote to hold a debate on Xinjiang at its next session in March. The vote amounted to a test of political and diplomatic clout between the West and Beijing. In August, former U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet’s office had released a report that found that possible “crimes against humanity” had occurred in Xinjiang.