50 countries urge China to release detained Uyghurs

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Fifty mainly Western countries are urging China to fully implement all recommendations in a U.N. report accusing the country of serious human rights violations stemming from a crackdown on Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups that may amount to “crimes against humanity.” They singled out its call for prompt steps to release all those “arbitrarily deprived of their liberty” in the far western province of Xinjiang. Canada’s U.N. Ambassador Bob Rae read the statement Monday at a meeting of the General Assembly’s human rights committee. It expresses concern at China’s failure so far to discuss the report’s findings.