The US, the UK and Germany cornered China at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on the issue of Uyghur minorities being abused in the restive northwestern province of Xinjiang. The remarks were made at a UNSC briefing on counter-terrorism with all the three countries advising Beijing not to use "counter-terrorism" as a pretext to silence political dissent. UK's envoy to UN James Roscoe echoed the sentiments saying, "We remain deeply concerned about systematic, egregious human rights violations against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities." "Counter-terrorism measures must never serve as a pretext for human rights violations," Germany said at the meeting. Earlier this year, Hong Kong was raised at UNSC's closed-door meet for the first time over the new security law irking Beijing.

Source: dna August 26, 2020 13:41 UTC