'May be crimes against humanity': UN report on China's actions in Xinjiang

China's discriminatory detention of Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups in the western region of Xinjiang may constitute crimes against humanity, the UN human rights office has said in a long-awaited report.

The report released Wednesday calls for an urgent international response over allegations of torture and other rights violations in Beijing's campaign to root out terrorism.

It, however, made no reference to genocide: one of the key allegations made by the United States and other critics.

"The extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim groups... may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity," the report said.

It said the world must now pay "urgent attention" to the human rights situation in the Xinjiang.

The assessment brings the UN seal to many of the allegations about China's treatment of people in Xinjiang that have long been made by rights groups, Western nations and the Uyghur community in exile.

China's mission in Geneva hit out at the report and maintained its firm opposition to its release.

"Based on the disinformation and lies fabricated by anti-China forces and out of presumption of guilt, the so-called 'assessment' distorts China's laws and policies, and wantonly smears and slanders China, and interferes in China's internal affairs," it said.

"People of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang are living a happy life in peace and contentment. It is the greatest human rights protection and the best human rights practice," the mission insisted.

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(with PTI and AFP inputs)