Fajarasia.co – United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) Michelle Bachelet arrived in China on Monday (23/5) and is scheduled to meet local state leaders.
Bachelet is scheduled to visit Guangdong Province and the Xinjiang Autonomous Region to meet with various sector leaders and community leaders.
“We hope that the visit can enhance cooperation between the two sides and make a positive contribution to the fight for human rights internationally,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry (MFA) spokesman Wang Wenbin in Beijing, Tuesday (24/5/2022).
He explained that the high commissioner’s visit was carried out with closed loop management according to the COVID-19 anti-pandemic health protocol.
“Therefore, both parties have agreed that there will be no journalists accompanying his trip. Bachelet will give a press statement on his visit to China at a later time,” he said.
Regarding visits to vocational camps that are alleged to be places of imprisonment for the Uighur Muslim ethnic minority in Xinjiang, Wang said he would facilitate it.
“The purpose of this visit is to increase the exchange of ideas and cooperation between the two parties and to support international human rights development. We are against this issue being manipulated politically,” he said.
The arrival of UNHCHR to Xinjiang has long been planned due to allegations of human rights violations in Xinjiang, such as re-education camps, genocide, and forced labor against the Uighur Muslim ethnic minority.
Beijing denies the accusations on the pretext that the re-education program in the vocational camps is an effort to deradicalize and de-extremism because China’s southwest region, which borders a number of countries, such as India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan, has seen several terrorist attacks from separatist groups.****
