China and human rights: Beijing deploys multiple resources to construct dictatorship beyond its borders, reinforce the North Korean regime and supply the Russian war machine

A strong statement emerged from Volker Turk, the current United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, who, during a global update to the U.N. human rights council a few weeks ago, directly challenged the Chinese government to accompany poverty alleviation with “reforms to align relevant laws and policies with international human rights standards.”

The U.N. has been roundly criticized in recent years for its failure to achieve much in China other than more effective methods of smothering dissent, in part because it seems institutionally compromised by the Chinese Communist Party regime. Turk’s comments do at least acknowledge that crimes are happening, but more than just words are required for change to be expected.