EU team visits China’s Xinjiang region to gather evidence on re-education camps
- The EU has repeatedly voiced concerns about the human rights situation in Xinjiang
- The team was supervised by Chinese officials trying ‘to give a good impression’
A European Union delegation has visited China’s far western region of Xinjiang, a rare chance to gather evidence on the re-education camps that have drawn harsh criticism from human rights groups and Western powers, officials said on Monday.
The team was supervised by Chinese officials during on the three-day trip this month, but managed to gather information the EU said built on “forcing and mutually consistent” reports of rights abuses in the region.
Up to a million Uygurs and members of other mostly Muslim minority groups are held in extrajudicial detention in camps in the Xinjiang region, according to a group of experts cited by the United Nations.
This was the first visit to Xinjiang by a multinational body such as the EU since Beijing acknowledged the existence of the camps, which it calls “vocational training centres”.
It followed another trip last month, also led by the Chinese government, by diplomats from Russia and 11 Asian countries, most with large Muslim populations.