The US also warned that Bachelet had not released a long-awaited report on the Uighurs in Xinjiang.
Washington:
The UN rights chief was fired on Friday for announcing a visit next week to China’s Xinjiang, with the United States saying she did not support the Uighur community in area.
After years of demanding “meaningful and unrestricted” access to the remote Western Xinjiang region, Michelle Bachelet will finally lead a six-day mission to China, starting Monday, her office said.
The visit, at Beijing’s invitation, marks the first trip to China by a UN rights chief since Louise Arbor arrived there in 2005.
The United States, in the face of strong criticism, said it was “deeply concerned” that Bachelet, a former Chilean president, went ahead with no assurances of what she could see.
State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters: “We do not expect that the PRC will grant the access necessary to conduct a full, unbiased assessment of the human rights environment in Xinjiang. “.
Price also warned that Bachelet had not released a long-anticipated report on Xinjiang, where the United States and several other Western nations say Beijing is carrying out “genocide” of people. Uyghurs and those who are predominantly Muslim, speak Turkic.
“Despite her regular assurances that the report will be released shortly, we have not been able to make it public and we urge the high commissioner to release it immediately and don’t wait for the visit,” Price said.
Her continued silence in the face of indisputable evidence of atrocities in Xinjiang and other human rights violations and abuses throughout the PRC is concerning, he said. ”, he said, arguing that Bachelet should be a leading voice on human rights.
– Meeting with staff and students –
Bachelet herself has requested access to all parts of China since she took office in 2018.
She has repeatedly voiced concerns about allegations of abuse prevalent in Xinjiang but has been criticized for not taking a strong enough stance.
Human rights campaigners accuse the ruling Communist Party of widespread abuses in the name of security, saying that at least a million predominantly Muslim people have been detained in “re-education camps” in an attempt to force they assimilated into the majority Han group in China.
Beijing has flatly denied the genocide allegations, calling them the “lie of the century” and arguing that its policies have countered extremism and improved livelihoods.
In March, the United Nations rights office announced it had finally reached an agreement to arrange a visit.
Bachelet will meet “several senior officials at the national and local level,” her office said on Friday, adding that she “will also meet with civil society organizations, representing businesses, academics and students at Guangzhou University.”
A previous team was sent to China a few weeks ago to prepare for the visit, and has completed an extended quarantine in the country, which is now under control of new Covid outbreaks.
Bachelet, who will not need to be quarantined, will not go to Beijing due to Covid restrictions but will go to Kashgar and Urumqi in Xinjiang.
– ‘Legacy’ is at stake –
Despite Bachelet’s request for unchecked access, rights groups noted that the terms of the visit were not disclosed.
They have voiced concern that Chinese authorities, who insist they are only interested in a “friendship visit”, could manipulate the trip.
“It defies confidence that the Chinese government will allow the high commissioner to see anything it does not want her to see, or allow human rights defenders, victims and their families to speak talk to her safely, unsupervised and without fear of reprisal,” Sophie Richardson, China director of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
The trip is not without risk for Bachelet, who is nearing the end of her four-year term and has not indicated whether she will seek a second assignment.
A Bachelet spokesman said on Tuesday that the long-delayed report on Xinjiang would not be released before her trip and there was no clear time to make it public.
Richardson said: “Bachelet’s legacy as high commissioner will be measured by her willingness to hold a powerful state accountable for crimes against humanity carried out in her tracks. she.”
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and was automatically generated from a syndication feed.)
