Silence on Atrocity Crimes Allegations Enables Impunity, Say 26 Rights Groups
(Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders—February 24, 2026) Twenty-six civil society organizations are calling on United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk to use his February 27 address to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) to detail his office’s efforts to investigate alleged Chinese government crimes against humanity. The groups also urged Türk to explicitly call on the Chinese government to end and redress ongoing and systematic human rights violations, including those documented since the end of the previous HRC session.
The HRC’s 61st session runs from February 23-March 31, 2026.
The groups stressed that multiple UN bodies, including Türk’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), have alleged that the scale of human rights violations perpetrated by the Chinese government may constitute crimes against humanity or genocide. The organizations underscored that the HRC exists to hold perpetrators of these violations accountable, and that it and OHCHR are overdue to take concrete action.
Since the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ landmark 2022 report, High Commissioner Türk has shared little information publicly as to progress redressing the crimes documented by his Office; those crimes are ongoing. Nor has he detailed any specific steps the government has taken to implement the recommendations from his Office in response to his engagement.
Since the end of the previous HRC session on October 8, 2025, Chinese authorities have continued to arbitrarily detain religious leaders and journalists; prosecute activists for peacefully exercising their rights, and defenders for free expression; and forcibly disappear human rights defenders and prevent them from seeking medical care. Authorities continue to use the vague charge of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” to silence critics, despite Türk’s call to the Chinese government to repeal the provision.
The civil society organizations appreciate the Office’s February 9, 2026 condemnation of Hong Kong authorities’ 20-year sentence imposed on publisher Jimmy Lai and the Office’s call for Lai’s release. In a January 19, 2026 statement marking its annual review of executions globally, Türk expressed concern that the Chinese government’s “use of the death penalty remains shrouded in secrecy.” And on December 9, 2025, Türk called on Hong Kong officials to refrain from using “the territory’s draconian security laws” to silence public activism in the wake of the Tai Po fire, and to repeal those laws or bring them into conformity with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which remains in force in Hong Kong.
Despite these interventions, on February 11, 2026 a Hong Kong court convicted the father of Anna Kwok, an exiled pro-democracy activist, under Article 23 of the Basic Law in a clear act of collective punishment and transnational repression.
Including new information on his efforts to investigate Beijing’s alleged crimes against humanity would be consistent with High Commissioner Türk’s own January 30, 2026 remarks in support of a new treaty on precisely these crimes. While encouraging states to “be ambitious” in negotiating and adopting a treaty on crimes against humanity, Türk described the debates as “a once in a generation opportunity to advance prevention and accountability for crimes against humanity.”
“High Commissioner Türk has his own opportunity to be ambitious and make clear to Beijing its atrocity crimes will be investigated,” said Sophie Richardson, Co-Executive Director of Chinese Human Rights Defenders. “As important, he has an opportunity to show the generations of victims and survivors of those and other crimes that they have not been forgotten.”
The civil society organizations joining this statement include the Alliance for Citizens Rights, Article 19, Campaign for Uyghurs, China Aid, Chinese Human Rights Defenders, the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, Free Tibet, Fortify Rights, Humanitarian China, the Human Rights Foundation, Human Rights in China, the International Federation for Human Rights, the International Service for Human Rights, International Tibet Network, International Campaign for Tibet, No Business With Genocide, Reporters Without Borders, The Rights Practice, Tibet Action Institute, United Uyghur Youth, Uyghur American Association, Uyghurs at UN Action Initiative, the Uyghur Human Rights Project, the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, Wild Pigeon Collective, and the World Uyghur Congress.
For more information, please contact:
At Campaign for Uyghurs: Rushan Abbas, Executive Director, rushan@campaignforuyghurs.org
At Chinese Human Rights Defenders: Sophie Richardson, Co-Executive Director, sophierichardson@nchrd.org, +1 917 721 7473; Angeli Datt, Research and Advocacy Coordinator, angelidatt@nchrd.org, +1 934 444 6155; Shane Yi, Researcher, shaneyi@nchrd.org
At Free Tibet: Tenzin Rabga Tashi, Campaigns Lead, rabga@freetibet.org
At the International Campaign for Tibet: Tencho Gyatso, President, Tencho.gyatso@savetibet.org
At Reporters Without Borders: Aleksandra Bielakowska, Advocacy Manager, abielakowska@rsf.org
At Uyghurs at UN Action Initiative: Rizwangul NurMuhammad, Initiative Lead, rn354@cornell.edu
At the Wild Pigeon Collective: Nyrola Elima, Executive Director, info@wildpigeoncollective.org
At the World Uyghur Congress: Zumretay Arkin, Vice President, Zumretay@uyghurcongress.org