HRC61 - EU Statement - Item 4 | EEAS 7 of 9 https://www.eeas.europa.eu/delegations/un-geneva/hrc61-eu-statement... or civil society organizations. We reiterate the rights of persons belonging to religious groups to conduct their basic affairs without interference and freely choose their religious leaders. We call on the release of all those arbitrarily detained for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of religion or belief. Numerous reports by UN Treaty Bodies and Special Rapporteurs, and in particular OHCHR’s assessment report on human rights in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, confirm that the human rights situation requires the urgent attention of the Chinese Government and UN bodies and the human rights system. We remain concerned about political re-education and mass arbitrary detentions, widespread surveillance, including Residential Surveillance in a Designated Location (RSDL), systemic and severe restrictions on the exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including freedom of religion or belief. We urge the eradication of forced labour and labour transfer schemes. We remain concerned about reports on torture, forced abortion and sterilization, birth control and family separation policies, and sexual and gender-based violence, especially in Xinjiang. We urge China to cooperate effectively with the UN High Commissioner and his Office, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Committee against Torture, and with all international human rights mechanisms, including towards the implementation of the recommendations included in the assessment report on the human rights concerns in Xinjiang and follow-up to the report as well as through the facilitation of visits of the High Commissioner and the Special Procedures mandate holders to regions such as Xinjiang and Tibet. The human rights situation in Tibet continues to be dire. Indicators of this include largescale coercive enrolment in obligatory boarding schools and the suppression of protests. We are concerned about reports that Tibetan schools teaching Tibetan language and culture have been shut down and that Chinese authorities have insisted that all students attend state schools where Tibetan is only taught as a stand-alone subject. We encourage China to cooperate with international human rights mechanisms, including all relevant Special Procedures mandates and treaty bodies, in particular the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Committee against Torture. We continue to closely monitor the situation and call for the immediate and unconditional release of human rights defenders, including Gulshan Abbas, Anya Sengdra, Ekpar Asat, Chadrel Rinpoche, Rahile Dawut, Ding Jiaxi, Dong Yuyu, Du Bin, Gao Zhen, Gao Zhisheng, Go Sherab Gyatso, He Fangmei, Huang Qi, Huang Xueqin, Hushtar Isa, Yalkun Isa, Ji Xiaolong, Pastor Jin Mingri, Jimmy Lai, Li Yanhe, Peng Lifa, Qin Yongming, Ruan Xiaohuan, Semkyi Dolma, Tashi Dorje, Tashpolat Tiyip, Sakharov Prize winner Ilham Tohti, Wang Bingzhang, Pastor Wang Yi, Xie Yang, Xu Na, Xu Zhiyong, Yang Henjung, Yang Maodong, Yin Xu’an, Yu Wensheng, Pastor Zhang Chunlei, Zhang Yadi and Zhang Zhan, as well as EU 25/03/2026, 16:51