UN warns of human rights violations in China

UN human rights coordinator Michelle Bachelet released the belated report on the situation in Xinjiang in northwest China late Wednesday, minutes before she left the post.

According to the report, there is support for allegations of human rights violations and systematic suppression of ethnic groups in the province.

Torture stories are seen as credible, and the international community is calling for urgent action.

“Allegations of patterns of torture or ill-treatment, including forced medical treatment and poor conditions of detention, are credible,” the report said.

Controversial visit

In May, Bachelet made a controversial visit to China, visiting, among other things, Xinjiang, where brutal repression against ethnic groups is seen as systemic. The US government even called China’s behavior in Xinjiang a “genocide.”

However, the report does not specifically address allegations of genocide.

Beijing has vehemently denied the allegations, saying it runs vocational training centers in Xinjiang aimed at combating extremism.

The trip in May drew sharp international criticism, with many countries viewing it as a propaganda trip organized by the Chinese Communist Party. Then Bachelet claimed that the six-day trip could improve ongoing communications with China and Beijing.

“Dialogue and gaining more understanding does not mean tolerating, condoning or turning a blind eye,” Bachelet wrote in an email to AFP. “This does not exclude my speech.”

farce

Earlier on Wednesday, Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said the report was a “farce” and hoped Bachelet would not publish it.

– We firmly oppose the UN Human Rights Office’s release of the so-called report on Xinjiang. He said this report was a farce coordinated by the United States and a few Western powers.

Zhang Jun, China’s ambassador to the United Nations in New York, said Wednesday that Bachelet had succumbed to political pressure from the West.