OPEN LETTER TO OBJECT TO INCIDENTS OF RACISM AND HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES OF AFRICANS IN CHINA
It is with utmost concern that the African Advocacy Network Ireland (ANNI) writes to seek the intervention of the international community in the dehumanizing treatment meted to Africans in China during this troubling period of Coronavirus pandemic.
As well meaning people all over the world embark on collaborative initiatives and partnerships to fight this dreaded virus that has no boundary, it is disheartening to watch news streaming in from Guangzhou city in China of Africans being maltreated, harassed and abused as scapegoats of the pandemic. This is unacceptable. Several evidences show that the situation in China has deteriorated to the point of racism and discrimination and needs to be arrested immediately to forestall a possible normalization of this reprehensible behaviour or worse still, a retaliation.
African nationals living and doing business legally in the Guangdong Province have been targeted needlessly and maltreated. Many of them have been evicted from their homes or denied basic rights to healthcare and other services and amenities in China. Several Africans have been forced to sleep rough in the streets of Guangzhou. Some Africans arriving the country were subjected to a discriminatory quarantine policy that is not in conformity with Chinese state policy. Most of the affected persons were placed on a second 14 days quarantine after completing the initial mandatory quarantine on arrival. Chinese officials have also acted in breach of all known International Protocols by seizing the international passports of some of these victims and only releasing them after diplomatic intervention by the consular agents of the affected African countries.
This is curious considering Chinese nationals have not been singled out for mistreatment anywhere in the world despite the fact that the Coronavirus pandemic started in China.
ANNI therefore strongly draws attention of the international community led by the United Nations, the World Health Organisation, the European Union and the African Union to the ugly and unacceptable development in China which could be discribed as state supported xenophobia and racism.
Videos have emerged of Covid-19 officials and law enforcement officers herding Africans through the streets of China after they have been evicted from their homes or hotel rooms. In other videos, African women, some of them pregnant and with their children in tow are seen roaming the streets with their belongings, cutting a most disheartening and pathetic picture. Other videos show security men barring Africans from shopping in local grocery stores to the chagrin and outrage of other members of the public. This is outrightly unacceptable as these individuals are being stripped of their dignity as human beings.
ANNI therefore calls on President Xi Jin Ping to order his officials to desist from these human rights abuses being meted out to Africans forthwith. President Ping should also apologize for the gross violation of human rights in his country which is against the United Nations Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
ANNI would also like to put the world on notice that the conduct of China is a slap on the face of the African continent that has been generous to China. There are currently over 10 million Chinese in various African countries who enjoy unconditional and unfettered hospitality in the countries where they live. China must as a matter of duty repudiate the widely held notion that the primary motivations behind her increased presence and investments in African countries include the desire to dominate and dehumanize Africans whilst securing a solid base of raw materials to fuel China’s own rapidly growing economy. China must show beyond reasonable doubt that her relationship with Africa is predicated on mutual respect, equality and unconditional value for the dignity of Africans. African organisations are monitoring keenly and recording the relationship that is evolving between Africa and China.
Furthermore, ANNI insists that Africans in China should be accorded every assistance during this period to correct the growing disquiet the inhumane treatment of Africans have caused.
Accept our sincerest regards,
JK Kelechi Onwumereh
(Convener African Advocacy Network Ireland)
C.c.
Taoiseach, The Oireachtas, Department of Irish Foreign Affairs and Trade, African Embassies in Ireland, Embassy of China Dublin, UN, World Health Organisation, European Union, African Union, Immigrant Council of Ireland
