“The government has also accepted the visit of an advanced OHCHR [Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights] team to prepare my stay in China, including onsite visits to Xinjiang and other places,” she said, while delivering a global update to the Human Rights Council on March 8.
The Washington-based advocacy group urged Bachelet to proceed with caution on her visit to the Uyghur region.
“[Investigators] must remember that the Chinese government has done everything in its power to promote a story about their treatment of Uyghurs that does not align with basic facts.”
More than 1 million ethnic Muslim minorities are estimated to be detained across a network of internment camps, where they’re subjected to forced labor, torture, and political indoctrination. Beijing, however, calls such detention centers vocational training centers that help with finances and counteract what it deems extremist violence in Xinjiang.
UHRP is far from the only group concerned about the effectiveness of the May visit, as others demanded plan details and a noninterference study.
Sheba Crocker, the U.S. representative of the European Office of the United Nations, said that Bachelet must be able to hold private meetings with a range of Uyghurs and groups in Xinjiang and have access to places where “atrocities” and abuses have been reported.
“Any access limitations imposed on the High Commissioner or her Office, or interference with their activities or reporting, would severely undermine the credibility of her visit and support the propaganda that denies the abuses occurring in Xinjiang,” she said.
“Chinese government officials have also long made concerted efforts to disseminate inaccurate and deliberately misleading information about the human rights situation in Xinjiang.”
Mariner called on the U.N. office to release further details of its agreement with Beijing, such as the parameters and scope of the visit.
Overdue Report
Bachelet has spoken about wanting to visit Xinjiang since she took office in 2018. The OHCHR has been gathering evidence of alleged human rights abuses in the region for more than three years and compiling a long-awaited report.The rights chief confirmed last September that the OHCHR was “finalizing its assessment of the available information.” A spokesperson said in December that the report would be released in a matter of weeks.
“Victims and survivors should not have to wait any longer,” the letter reads, as advocators call on the chief to fulfill her mandate and give the brief to the Human Rights Council as a matter of urgency.
Bachelet’s March 8 video message to the Geneva forum made no reference to the overdue report.