A human rights group has slammed Indonesia and Pakistan after they voted to block a United Nations Human Rights Council debate on human rights abuses of Uyghur Muslims in China's Xinjiang region.
The Australian government has also issued a forceful statement after the vote, saying the mistreatment of Uyghurs "cannot be ignored by the international community".
In a close vote, 19 countries voted down the motion to discuss a long-awaited report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, which found China is responsible for serious human rights violations — and possible crimes against humanity — in Xinjiang.
That bloc of 19 countries included a number of developing nations across Africa, Central Asia, South Asia and Latin America.
Meanwhile, 17 other nations — including the US, the UK, Japan, South Korea and several European countries — voted in favour of the motion, while 11 others, including India and Malaysia, abstained.
Australia is not currently sitting on the UN Human Rights Council, but joined the small group of countries that first formally called for the debate.
In a statement, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said it was "disappointed" by the result of the vote.
"Australia, and many in the international community, have long held grave concerns about reports of severe human rights violations in Xinjiang," it said in a statement.
"The findings in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights' (OHCHR) report on Xinjiang were harrowing and corroborated many of these reports.
"The outcome of the vote does not undermine the credibility of the OHCHR report — the strong and independent findings of the report cannot be ignored by the international community."
China intent on obstructing scrutiny
Human Rights Watch's Elaine Pearson said the vote was "shameful" and "an abdication of the responsibilities of the Human Rights Council".
"It was especially disappointing and quite hypocritical of Pakistan and Indonesia to vote no," she told the ABC.
"Both are members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and we have seen the OIC governments take a much-stronger stand on the abuses against other Muslim communities, such as ethnic Rohingya in Myanmar and the apartheid committed by Israeli authorities in Palestine.
"And, yet, when it comes to the abuses faced by Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims in China, there has largely been silence."
Indonesia's Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Febrian Ruddyard, told the council his government would continue to urge China to "fulfil its responsibility to protect the human rights of the Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang".
"We are following closely the situation in Xinjiang and stand in solidarity with our Muslim brothers and sisters in Xinjiang," he said.
"Since the very beginning, Indonesia has been engaging with the government and people of China … to discuss the matter of Xinjiang … and to explore ways to alleviate the relevant concerns."
However, he said, Indonesia would still vote no because pursuing "country-specific initiatives that do not enjoy the consent and support of the concerned countries" would not result in any "meaningful progress" on human rights.
"It cannot be understated, therefore, that states must be at the driver's seat in the efforts to resolve their own domestic challenges," he said.
"The role of the international community, in this regard, is to support and encourage states to make concrete human rights improvements.
"We call on the council to work together, rather than apart, to promote universal respect for the protection of all human rights and fundamental for all."
Ms Pearson said the vote showed that China was increasingly intent on trying to obstruct international scrutiny of human rights abuses.
"Certainly, economics was a part of it, certainly these countries have very strong trade ties with the Chinese government, " she said.
"But these governments, themselves, [are not] squeaky clean and they also have things to hide.
"So it suits them to take this position of backing government sovereignty … That is really worrying because, if we adopt that principle, we'd never see anything debated at the Human Rights Council."
