In a comprehensive statement delivered during the 57th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the European Union (EU) reiterated its concerns about the continuous dire human rights situation in several countries around the globe, including regions under Chinese influence, namely Tibet, Xinjiang, and Hong Kong.
Especially for Xinjiang, the EU condemns political re-education camps, mass arbitrary detentions, widespread surveillance, tracking and control measures, systemic and severe restrictions on the exercise of fundamental freedoms, including freedom of religion or belief, as well as the non-transparent use of the death penalty, the use of forced labour and labour transfer schemes, torture, forced abortion and sterilization, birth control and family separation policies, and sexual and gender-based violence, a statement reads.
The human rights situation in Tibet continues to be dire. Indicators of this include obligatory boarding schooling and DNA sampling, as reported by civil society organisations. The EU will closely monitor the preservation of the fundamental freedoms, cultural heritage and identity of Tibetans and calls on China to ensure full bilingual education both in Tibetan and Chinese at all levels of the schooling system. Cases of closure of schools teaching in Tibetan language are a worrying development. The EU also encourages China to allow more visits from the international community, UN Special Procedures Mandate Holders and civil society organisations to Tibet. Human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists, other media workers, academics, writers and intellectuals among others continue to be exposed to harassment, intimidation and surveillance, including at transnational level.
The EU criticizes the sentencing and enforced disappearance including via Residential Surveillance in a Designated Location (RSDL) that could amount to torture and ill-treatment. The EU urges China to introduce a moratorium on the death penalty, adopt rigorous procedures for reviewing capital sentences and reporting death penalty cases. China must also respect the principle of non-refoulement and refrain from extraterritorial activities (including coercion) that are not in line with international law.
The EU also says that in Hong Kong, the repressive use of the China-imposed National Security Law continues to undermine human rights and fundamental freedoms. The broad and vague definition of certain provisions in the new national security legislation adopted in March 2024 and the first arrests under the new legislation add to these concerns. The legislation exacerbates the erosion of fundamental freedoms and political pluralism in the Special Administrative Region. Of particular concern is its extraterritorial application, including the decision to issue arrest warrants for 13 individuals living outside Hong Kong. The sweeping changes in the electoral system have eroded democratic principles and political pluralism.
The EU is following with great concern the national security trials of politicians, media practitioners and pro-democracy advocates, including Jimmy Lai and Chow Hang-tung, and is very concerned about the guilty verdict against them.
The EU urges the Chinese government and the Hong Kong authorities to restore full respect for the rule of law, fundamental freedoms, and democratic principles, and to preserve Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy under the ‘one country, two systems’ principle, in compliance with Hong Kong’s Basic Law and China’s domestic and international obligations.