West weighs contentious anti-China move as U.N. rights coucil opens

Western countries face a dilemma as the U.N. Human Rights Council opens on Monday: confront China over human rights violations in its Xinjiang region and risk failing or miss the biggest opportunity to bring accountability in years.
A report by the U.N. rights office on Aug. 31 found that China’s “arbitrary and discriminatory detention” of Uyghurs and other Muslims there may constitute crimes against humanity. China vigorously denies any abuse.
High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, whose office released the report, has since concluded her term.
Her successor, Austria’s Volker Turk, is not yet in Geneva and no follow-up action is formally on the crowded council agenda that includes the crises in Ukraine and Ethiopia. That means any China action may have to be initiated by one of the 47 nations that make up the council tasked with promoting and protecting human rights globally.
Western diplomats said a group of democracies is considering a range of options including a resolution on China for the first time in the council’s 16-year-history – a move that might include an investigative mechanism.