Bachelet is also expected to go to the Xinjiang region, which has come to the fore with China’s human rights violations. The long-awaited visit of United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet to China has begun. Bachelet, who went to the country at the invitation of the Chinese government, is expected to meet with national and local political representatives, as well as social organizations, business people and academics. According to information from Bachelet’s office, the UN official will also meet with university students at Guanco University in southern China.
Within the scope of Bachelet’s visit, she is expected to visit the cities of Urumqi and Kashgar by going to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, which has come to the fore with human rights violations.
Human rights organizations state that China has arrested hundreds of thousands of people in recent years in Xinjiang, which has a predominantly Muslim population, as part of what it describes as the fight against terrorism. It is estimated that the number of people held in detention camps or prisons by the Chinese government has reached 1 million.
Pre-visit reviews
In a statement ahead of Bachelet’s visit, the U.S. government said it was “very concerned” that the Chinese government might block access needed to provide a comprehensive and unmanipulated assessment of the human rights situation in the country. US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price criticized Bachelet for “staying silent” on human rights violations in Xinjiang and across the country.
Tibetan human rights groups also criticized Bachelet’s visit. In a statement made by the Tibet Initiative organization in Germany, it was stated that the visit could have the opposite effect rather than improving the human rights situation in the country. The organization, which warned that the Chinese regime could use Bachelet’s visit for propaganda purposes, stated that “Michelle Bachelet’s visit is not transparent, and China is surrounded by silence and failure to keep promises made in human rights crimes.”
The Chinese government invited the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, to the country in 2019, but the visit did not take place due to Beijing’s failure to fulfill the UN official’s request for “unlimited and unsupervised meetings with all negotiating partners at their chosen location”. After Bachelet announced that she accepted the invitation in March, a statement from Geneva stated that China would fulfill the demands.
dpa,DW/BO,SSB