A group of UN labour experts have expressed their "deep concern" after evaluating the treatment of ethnic and religious minorities in China, and in particular in the northwestern Xinjiang region.

A committee of 20 experts appointed by the International Labour Organization to evaluate how countries apply various international labour conventions took China to task in its annual report, published this week.

The committee had evaluated allegations by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in late 2020 that Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang were systematically being used for forced labour in agriculture.

Rights groups also say at least one million Uyghurs have been incarcerated in "re-education camps" in Xinjiang.

Beijing vehemently denies all such charges, and maintains the camps are vocational training centres aimed at reducing the appeal of Islamic extremism.

- 'Politically motivated' -

In its detailed response, which was attached to the ILO report, it slammed the ITUC allegations in particular as "untrue and politically motivated".

The ILO report however said that after it "duly considered the information provided by the Government in response to these serious allegations, the Committee expresses its deep concern".

The expert committee called on Beijing to reorient "the mandate of vocational training and education centres from political re-education based on administrative detention".

Instead, it said, they should be "assisting ethnic and religious minorities in the development and use of their capabilities for work in their own best interests and in accordance with their own aspirations".

The experts also called on Chinese authorities to stop requiring companies and trade unions to fulfil "deradicalisation duties", and to allow them to promote "equality of opportunity and treatment in employment".

The committee also asked Beijing to provide detailed information about the measures it was taking to ensure the activities at the vocational training centres in Xinjiang were in line with China's international obligations.

And it requested details on steps taken to "promote equality of opportunity and treatment for the Uyghurs and other ethnic minority groups when seeking to access employment outside the Xinjiang Autonomous Province."

It said Beijing should "reply in full" before all ILO member states during the UN agency's annual International Labour Conference in June.

- 'Genocide' -

In its response, the Chinese government insisted that "under its leadership, Xinjiang has made great progress in safeguarding human rights and development".

People from all ethnic groups in Xinjiang "voluntarily participate in employment of their own choice", it said.

Washington and London, among the most outspoken critics of China's treatment of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, hailed the ILO report.

In a statement, the US State Department called on Beijing to "take the steps requested by the committee of experts", and reiterated its call for China to "end its genocide and crimes against humanity" in Xinjiang.

Britain's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Simon Manley, also welcomed the report.

"The evidence of the scale and the severity of the human rights violations being perpetrated in Xinjiang, including forced labour, against the Uyghur Muslims is far-reaching," he said in a statement.

He also demanded that UN rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, be granted "unfettered access to Xinjiang... to verify the facts on the ground".

China has said Bachelet is welcome to visit the region but has not granted her the independent and unimpeded access she is seeking.

Her office has said it will soon release a widely anticipated report on the rights situation in Xinjiang, although the long-delayed publication date remains unclear.

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