WEBVTT 00:01.933 --> 00:04.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: Late last night, the U.N. human rights chief released a report 00:04.133 --> 00:08.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% accusing the Chinese government of possibly committing crimes against humanity 00:08.700 --> 00:13.333 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% against minority Muslim Uyghurs in the Western province of Xinjiang. 00:13.333 --> 00:16.533 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% The report reiterated much of what the U.S. government and 00:16.533 --> 00:21.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% independent researchers have said about Beijing's campaign against the group, 00:21.033 --> 00:24.800 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% but it was the first time the accusations were leveled by the U.N. 00:24.800 --> 00:26.033 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% Nick Schifrin reports. 00:26.033 --> 00:29.100 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% NICK SCHIFRIN: On the banks of the Bosphorus, 00:29.100 --> 00:34.100 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% Uyghur victims of Chinese detention didn't need a U.N. report to tell them what they'd survived. 00:35.533 --> 00:37.866 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% Can you describe for us what that detention center was like? 00:37.866 --> 00:41.300 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% ABDUSALAM MUHEMET, Former Detainee (through translator): 00:41.300 --> 00:46.266 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% They brought everyone in there because they called us suspicious. There is unimaginable 00:48.333 --> 00:51.766 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% oppression inside. Every day, they would toss us a little bread and water, so that we didn't 00:51.766 --> 00:56.733 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% die. And every day, they would interrogate 15 or 20 of us with unbearable brutality. 00:58.700 --> 01:01.866 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: We met Abdusalam Muhemet three years ago. He says he was detained in 2017 01:02.966 --> 01:04.700 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% in what he calls a prison for brainwashing. 01:04.700 --> 01:07.100 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% ABDUSALAM MUHEMET (through translator): 01:07.100 --> 01:10.800 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% The 10 hours of class they would teach one day were the exact same hours they 01:10.800 --> 01:15.200 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% would teach the next. The goal was to change our minds, our faith, our beliefs. 01:15.200 --> 01:20.200 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: Beijing has long called some Uyghurs extremists and separatists 01:22.666 --> 01:27.000 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% who needed to be reeducated with Chinese language and vocational skills. This is state media video. 01:28.900 --> 01:31.733 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% But the former detainees we interviewed and international researchers 01:31.733 --> 01:34.866 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% call this staged and scripted, a facade that hid 01:34.866 --> 01:39.866 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% what was really happening. In this drone video the U.S. believes authentic, prisoners in blue 01:41.800 --> 01:45.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% with shaved heads are kept blindfolded and are led away one police officer per prisoner. 01:47.433 --> 01:51.133 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% Today's report details detentions marked by patterns of torture or other forms of cruel, 01:51.133 --> 01:56.100 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. And it concludes: "The extent of arbitrary 01:58.133 --> 02:01.200 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% and discriminatory detention of members of Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim groups 02:01.200 --> 02:05.433 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity." 02:07.400 --> 02:10.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Beijing says the camps have all been closed and called the report a farce. 02:10.066 --> 02:12.533 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% WANG WENBIN, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman (through translator): The so-called assessment 02:12.533 --> 02:16.866 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% report was planned and manufactured by the United States and some Western forces, 02:16.866 --> 02:18.933 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% and it is completely illegal and invalid. 02:18.933 --> 02:23.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: The report's author, Michelle Bachelet, the former president of Chile, 02:23.600 --> 02:28.466 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% was herself detained and tortured under the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. 02:29.900 --> 02:32.800 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% In May, she visited China to conduct her own research, 02:32.800 --> 02:36.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% but human rights defenders criticized her for pulling her punches. 02:36.066 --> 02:38.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% MICHELLE BACHELET, Former U.N. Human Rights Commissioner: I should state from the outset 02:38.633 --> 02:43.500 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% what this visit was and what it wasn't. This visit was not an investigation. 02:43.500 --> 02:48.500 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: Bachelet's term ended last night. She says she was taking the -- quote -- "greatest 02:48.500 --> 02:53.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% care" to deal with Chinese feedback and released the report 13 minutes before midnight. 02:54.933 --> 02:57.300 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% And for more on all this, we turn to Sophie Richardson, 02:57.300 --> 02:59.466 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% the China director at Human Rights Watch. 02:59.466 --> 03:02.066 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% Sophie Richardson, welcome back to the "NewsHour." 03:02.066 --> 03:07.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Last month, Human Rights Watch said that this report had at its stake the reputation and 03:09.000 --> 03:13.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% legacy of the author, the credibility of her office, and the trust of all victims. 03:14.333 --> 03:16.433 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% Are you satisfied by the report? 03:16.433 --> 03:18.966 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% SOPHIE RICHARDSON, Human Rights Watch: This report should have come out a year ago, because the 03:18.966 --> 03:23.400 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% damage, the harm endured by Uyghurs inside and outside the country could have been mitigated. 03:26.133 --> 03:30.000 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% But it is nonetheless an important reflection of the scope and the 03:30.000 --> 03:34.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% scale of abuses across the region at the hands of the Chinese government, 03:34.466 --> 03:39.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% with a strong suggestion that those policies rise to the level of crimes against humanity. 03:40.833 --> 03:42.900 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: And how unprecedented is it for the 03:42.900 --> 03:46.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% U.N. to suggest that the Chinese may be committing crimes against humanity? 03:46.133 --> 03:48.200 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% SOPHIE RICHARDSON: It's utterly unprecedented. 03:48.200 --> 03:53.000 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% It -- again, it would have been helpful to have this assessment a few years ago. 03:53.900 --> 03:55.033 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% This latest crisis in the region 03:57.466 --> 04:01.466 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% took on new momentum in 2017. But we now know, from leaked government documents, that authorities 04:03.366 --> 04:07.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% were planning as early as 2014 specifically to commit systemic human rights violations. 04:09.900 --> 04:14.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% And so we have to look at this report and wonder what could have turned out differently 04:15.766 --> 04:16.966 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% if this report had come sooner. 04:16.966 --> 04:18.400 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% NICK SCHIFRIN: What might follow it, 04:20.200 --> 04:23.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% in terms of investigations or government actions, do you think? 04:23.600 --> 04:25.666 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% SOPHIE RICHARDSON: Many of the issues, 04:25.666 --> 04:28.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% the human rights violations the report identifies have been documented elsewhere. 04:28.700 --> 04:32.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% But it really is the imprimatur of the United Nations high Commissioner 04:32.700 --> 04:37.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% for human rights and the office she has led that lends a certain momentum and credibility 04:40.300 --> 04:45.300 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% that, in turn, places pressure on or gives governments necessary facts to go into a body 04:48.066 --> 04:53.066 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% like the United Nations Human Rights Council and start arguing that it's time to establish a formal 04:55.100 --> 04:58.233 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% investigation that could gather evidence and make recommendations about actual prosecutions. 04:58.233 --> 05:01.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: And that Human Rights Council meets just in a few weeks. 05:02.466 --> 05:05.266 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% On the other hand, the report does not use the word genocide, 05:05.266 --> 05:09.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% which the U.S. government has used, nor does it use a number. The U.S. government 05:09.600 --> 05:14.533 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% says that there are one to three million Uyghurs who have been detained by China. 05:14.533 --> 05:18.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% For example, Senator Marco Rubio today said it -- quote -- "downplays the 05:18.300 --> 05:21.333 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% severity" of the Chinese Communist Party's crimes. 05:21.333 --> 05:22.933 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% Do you agree? 05:22.933 --> 05:23.833 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% SOPHIE RICHARDSON: I think there's legitimate debate about whether 05:25.233 --> 05:29.100 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% the report downplays the scope and scale of abuses or 05:29.100 --> 05:34.100 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% whether it has put forward an assessment that's playing defense, partly by drawing 05:35.933 --> 05:39.866 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% extensively on Chinese government sources, in addition to having spoken to victims. 05:41.800 --> 05:45.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% I think part of the office's goal was to provide governments, in particular, 05:47.200 --> 05:51.400 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% with very solid facts and to leave out that which they could not definitively confirm, 05:54.466 --> 05:58.466 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% so that the governments that are likely to take this assessment forward 05:58.466 --> 06:03.200 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% could be confident that they're arguing on very strong analytical and factual ground. 06:03.200 --> 06:06.300 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% NICK SCHIFRIN: I think it's important to put an underline in that. 06:06.300 --> 06:11.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% This report does not only use victims' testimonies. It also uses Chinese government 06:12.800 --> 06:15.200 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% sources. You think that that's particularly significant? 06:15.200 --> 06:17.266 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% SOPHIE RICHARDSON: Yes, I think that's playing good defense. 06:17.266 --> 06:22.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Beijing's immediate response was to say that this is just a U.S. conspiracy. And 06:24.266 --> 06:27.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% I think it's hard to do that when your own government's documents are being quoted 06:29.300 --> 06:31.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% extensively throughout the piece and being relied on throughout the analysis. 06:31.900 --> 06:35.900 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: You and others in the U.S. have been sanctioned 06:35.900 --> 06:39.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% by the Chinese government for -- quote - - "meddling in internal affairs." 06:40.400 --> 06:42.966 align:left position:40% line:89% size:50% Are you? 06:42.966 --> 06:44.966 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% SOPHIE RICHARDSON: Well, if that's the Chinese government's perspective, it probably shouldn't 06:44.966 --> 06:48.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% have voluntarily signed up to a half-dozen international human rights treaties that allow 06:48.700 --> 06:53.700 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% for precisely the kind of scrutiny not just that Human Rights Watch brings to bear, but, indeed, 06:55.133 --> 06:57.100 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% the United Nations, the high commissioner and the 06:57.100 --> 07:00.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights as well as the Human Rights Council. 07:00.066 --> 07:04.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: And, finally, it's difficult, but do you believe this report can provide 07:05.833 --> 07:08.800 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% any kind of comfort, any kind of recognition, 07:08.800 --> 07:13.800 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% perhaps, to so many victims and their families of Chinese detention? 07:15.833 --> 07:18.700 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% SOPHIE RICHARDSON: I do think this is one of the most important aspects of this report that, 07:18.700 --> 07:23.700 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% finally, finally, Uyghurs around the world see at least some of the nightmare that they have lived 07:26.233 --> 07:31.233 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% validated and reflected by the world's premier human rights agency. 07:33.233 --> 07:37.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% A key now is for governments to respond to this report and take it forward to end 07:39.000 --> 07:42.600 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% this nightmare for Uyghurs and to actually pursue accountability and deny the Chinese 07:44.500 --> 07:47.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% government the kind of impunity it's come to expect for gross human rights violations. 07:47.600 --> 07:51.566 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: Sophie Richardson, China director of Human Rights Watch, thank you very much. 07:51.566 --> 07:52.500 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% SOPHIE RICHARDSON: Thank you.