Sen. Cramer opposes appointment of Chinese official to UN Human Rights Group

U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), along with Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), James M. Inhofe (R-OK), Marsha Blackburn, (R-TN), Martha McSally (R-AZ), Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Kevin Cramer (R-ND), sent a letter today to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres expressing opposition to the appointment of Minister of the Chinese Mission in Geneva Jiang Duan to the United Nations Human Rights Council Consultative Group.

They wrote: “As you know, in this position, Jiang will provide China with the opportunity to play a central role in picking at least 17 human rights investigators, including those who look at freedom of speech, enforced disappearance, and arbitrary detention, rights abuses which the Chinese regime routinely perpetrates.”

“In addition to its willful deceit and gross negligence regarding its handling of the COVID-19 outbreak, China is guilty of widespread and well-documented cases of human rights abuses targeting the Uyghur Muslim community in Xinjiang province.”

“China should not occupy a position of prestige or influence on the UN Human Rights Council while it engages in human rights violations of the worst kind both at home and abroad. We implore you to intervene on behalf of our shared values of freedom and dignity by suspending Jiang's appointment to the UN Human Rights Council Consultative Group, and to implore all member states to condemn in strongest terms the human rights violations committed by Chinese Communist Party.”

You can view the signed letter here