A woman takes a picture during a session on the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, on September 13, 2021. Photo: CFP

 
The US, Canada and Australia are advised to reflect seriously on their wrongdoings in history, immediately amend laws and change policies that violate indigenous people's rights, investigate the crimes and hold the perpetrators accountable, Jiang Duan, minister of the Chinese mission to the UN in Geneva, said at a side event during the 49th session of the Human Rights Council on Friday. 

The Permanent Mission of Venezuela and the Permanent Mission of China co-hosted the side event with the theme "Systemic Violations of Indigenous People's Rights by the US, Canada and Australia" on Friday. More than 150 people, including foreign diplomats in Geneva, scholars, representatives from nongovernmental organizations and media attended the event. 

"The US has systematically deprived American Indians of their basic rights, including the right to life, political, economic and cultural rights, in an attempt to physically and culturally eradicate the entire community," Minister Jiang said during the event. 

The native American population plummeted from 5 million at the end of the 15th century to 237,000 at the beginning of the 20th century, and many tribes completely went extinct.

The Chinese envoy noted that since the beginning of last year, there has been shocking and distressing discovery of a large number of unnamed graves and remains of indigenous children in Canada. In much of its history, Australia pursued the notorious "White Australia Policy," under which some 100,000 aboriginal children were forcibly taken away from their families, causing lifetime harm and trauma to the "stolen generation."

"Serious violations of indigenous peoples' rights by the US, Canada and Australia are not just something of the past, but a matter of chronic and systemic racism that continues to this day," said Jiang, noting that "Today, indigenous people are still subject to widespread and systemic discrimination and inequality in these countries, and are marginalized and left at the bottom of society politically, economically and culturally."

The Chinese diplomat said that the US, Canada and Australia are advised to reflect seriously on their wrongdoings in history. The diplomat added that multilateral human rights bodies such as the Human Rights Council and OHCHR should take action on serious violations of indigenous people's rights in these countries.

Héctor Constant Rosales, the Permanent Representative of Venezuela to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said during the side event that the US, Canada and Australia have always lectured other countries on human rights but their own human rights situations are shocking. 

In facing with the systematic discrimination and oppression of indigenous people in these countries, media in the these countries choose to ignore the problems. The US, Canada and Australia also make blatant accusations of other countries and impose unilateral sanctions which have brought disasters globally, Ambassador Rosales said, calling on the international community to pay attention to these countries' violations of human rights and hold perpetrators accountable. 

Envoys from North Korea and Russia also attended the event and criticized the discrimination toward indigenous people and expressed concerns over the human rights situation in the US, Canada and Australia. 

Tian Li, a research fellow from Shandong University who attended the event, said that the US government has always adopted double standards on issues of genocide - blatantly and groundlessly smear other countries for committing "genocide" but refuse to admit its crimes against the native American people. 

The US refused to sign the conventions on human rights and its domestic laws connive Americans' genocide crimes overseas and it is hard for the indigenous people to get justice through laws, Tian said, noting that experts have also criticized the US media for stigmatizing indigenous people and beautifying the genocide crimes.