Human rights?! Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

Representatives from Canadian and Australian indigenous people disclosed the severe crimes committed by the US, Canada and Australia against indigenous people, during a meeting on the sidelines of the 48th regular session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Monday, urging the three countries to take practical measures to improve the human rights situation of indigenous people. 

The permanent missions of four countries - China, Belarus, North Korea and Venezuela - to the UN in Geneva jointly held the video conference on how the US, Canada and Australia have been infringing on the human rights of indigenous people on Monday. 

Jiang Duan, Minister of the Permanent Mission of China to the UN Office in Geneva, said that the US, Canada and Australia have committed genocides and crimes against humanity by systematically implementing ethnic cleansing and cultural genocides toward indigenous people throughout history. The human rights of indigenous people have been seriously violated while discriminatory laws and policies against indigenous people are still in effect in these countries. Indigenous people's human rights in these countries have become a "black hole."

Representatives and senior diplomats from Russia, North Korea, Venezuela, Belarus and other countries said the US, Canada and Australia claim themselves as "human rights pioneers," but their own human rights situations are "fraught with problems." Indigenous people in these countries have been robbed of their own lands and resources while facing systematic discrimination, social injustice and violence for a long time, according to a press release from the Permanent Mission of China to the UN Office in Geneva. 

The international community should put the human rights abuses of the US, Canada, Australia and others in the spotlight, condemn their gross violations of indigenous people's rights and urge them to compensate indigenous people, the press release said. 

A representative of the Canadian indigenous people said at the event that the Canadian government's harsh suppression of indigenous people's demands for justice is a gross violation of international law. The international community must hold accountable those who violate indigenous people's human rights.

A descendant of a tribe in Australia said that the Australian government, in the name of protecting aboriginal children, forced them to separate from their parents, resulting in a large number of them unable to inherit their own culture. 

Viewers from more than 10 countries, including France, the US and Germany, watched the event on social media. Some viewers expressed their gratitude to China and other countries for organizing the event, and paid their respect to those who are brave enough to speak out on behalf of indigenous people, urging the US, Canada and Australia to give an explanation to indigenous people.

Global Times