UNHRC report highlights serious concerns about Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Tibet Autonomous Region

Shamdasani's statement comes at a time when the United Nations Human Rights team visited China in June this year. Apart from this, the UN team had talks with Chinese officials, in which anti-terrorism policies and criminal justice system in the country were specifically discussed.

The statement highlighted that during the dialogue with the Chinese authorities, the UN delegation found that there are a number of problematic laws and policies, particularly in Xinjiang, which should be investigated and reviewed by the authorities from a human rights perspective. According to the same statement, the UN has also urged China and members of the country's civil society to continue such dialogue to seek concrete progress in the protection of human rights of all in China.

Furthermore, the UN also said that it will continue to closely monitor the current human rights situation in China despite the difficulties posed by limited access to information and fear of reprisals against individuals associated with the UN. During its visit to China, the UN team also called on the Chinese authorities to take immediate steps to release all individuals who have been arbitrarily deprived of their liberty and to clarify the status and whereabouts of those whose families are seeking information about them.

The statement highlighted that the UN has always advocated for the implementation of the recommendations made by this UN team, as well as recommendations made by other human rights mechanisms and during the Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review process on China.

Earlier, several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) had criticised China for rejecting the recommendations of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the 56th session of the UNHRC, which aimed to address the country's serious human rights issues.

Reportedly, China has ignored calls to implement UN findings and rejected all serious criticism of its human rights record, and refused to compromise on the documented plight of Uighurs, Tibetans, Hong Kongers, and human rights activists.

Chinese diplomats on Thursday rejected the adoption of several key recommendations of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) aimed at addressing the country's serious human rights issues during the 26th meeting of the 56th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) held in Geneva. Reacting to the rejection of the UPR recommendations, in a joint statement on behalf of 29 NGOs at the Human Rights Council following China's comments, the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) urged China to “genuinely engage with the UN to implement meaningful reforms” in line with the UN Xinjiang report, UN treaty bodies and recommendations of UN special rapporteurs.