China & Russia face the ire of west over human rights violation & annexation in UN

With regard to allegations of abuses during an anti-extremism campaign in western Xinjiang and Russia's government's crackdown on dissent and protest against the war in Ukraine, Western nations are leading a rare two-pronged effort at the U.N.'s main human rights body to more closely examine the human rights records of two major world powers. These countries are China and Russia. It will be a difficult political task to pursue two such powerful U.N. members at once, let alone two of the Security Council's five permanent members, according to diplomats and human rights advocates. It demonstrates the widening gap between democracies and more autocratic nations, and it is developing into a geopolitical bet whose results will be felt outside of the Geneva conference room where the Human Rights Council meets. It's now or never, say some Western diplomats, and it just so happens that the two issues require different attention. Leading the charge for a discussion on alleged abuses against Uyghurs and other primarily Muslim ethnic groups in Xinjiang at the council's next session in March are Britain, Canada, the U.S., and the five Nordic nations. They hope to capitalize on a U.N. human rights chief report from August 31 that expressed concern over potential crimes against humanity committed during Beijing's anti-extremism campaign in the area. With the exception of Hungary, all of the other 26 European Union nations on Tuesday proposed that the council appoint a "special rapporteur" on Russia. They did so in response to a number of issues, including widespread arrests and detentions, harassment of journalists, opposition politicians, activists, and rights defenders, and sometimes violent crackdowns on demonstrators opposed to President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine. On October 7, the council will vote on both matters near the conclusion of its current session. Deep backroom negotiations are already taking place. The majority of the 47 current members of the council come from developing nations in Asia, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. Members include Cuba, Eritrea, Venezuela, and other steadfast allies of China and Russia, as well as China itself. 13 seats are occupied by Western and European nations. The cultural, political, and economic ties, and even dependence, that many developing nations share with both Russia and China could jeopardize Western initiatives, according to some European diplomats.