WMA Resolution on Acknowledgement and Condemnation of the Human Rights Violations against the Uyghurs and Other Minorities in China
Adopted by the 74th WMA General Assembly, Kigali, Rwanda, October 2023
Preamble
In October 2020, the WMA passed a Resolution which formally condemned the treatment of the Uyghur population in the Xinjiang region of China. The resolution also repeated the July 2019 call of the UN Human Rights High Commissioner for independent international observers to be allowed into the region.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) published a report on 31 august 2022 on the “Assessment of human rights concerns in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, People’s Republic of China”. The report’s assessments include findings that serious human rights violation have been committed in XUAR and that patterns of restrictions have a discriminatory component. The OHCHR furthermore inter alia finds that allegations of forced medical treatments and adverse conditions of detention are credible.
“The purpose of the WMA is to serve humanity by endeavouring to achieve the highest international standards in Medical Education, Medical Science, Medical Art and Medical Ethics, and Health Care for all people in the world”. Uyghur birth rates have been cut through involuntary IUDs, abortions and sterilisations [1]. All of these acts require the involvement of medical professionals.
The People´s Republic of China is continuing its campaign in a manner that is dependent upon continued and extensive medical involvement, engaging in the most egregious violations of human rights, which risk bringing the entire medical profession into disrepute. It is therefore morally incumbent on the WMA and its members to take a strong stand against such reprehensible actions.
In October 2020, the WMA recognised and condemned the treatment of the Uyghurs in China. As there is now incontrovertible evidence surrounding their abuse, it is incumbent on the Chinese Medical Association to join other constituent bodies of the WMA by acknowledging and condemning this abuse.
Recommendation
In light of the mounting body of evidence, including the report of 31 August 2022 from the OCHCR, of medical involvement in severe human rights violations against the Uyghur people and other minorities in China, the WMA asks the Chinese Medical Association to acknowledge the concerns set out in the report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and comply with the 2020 WMA Resolution on human rights violations against Uyghur People in China.
[1] https://apnews.com/article/ap-top-news-international-news-weekend-reads-china-health-269b3de1af34e17c1941a514f78d764c