US calls for UN to demand unfettered access to China’s Xinjiang region
- US State Department official seeks ‘immediate, unhindered and unmonitored access’ for UN inquiry into plight of Uygurs
- Remarks came at panel discussion on human rights in Xinjiang on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York
The United States urged the United Nations on Tuesday to seek unfettered access to the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region to inspect the Chinese government-run mass internment camps there.
During a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, John Sullivan, the US deputy secretary of state, also criticised the UN for sending its terrorism chief to the region earlier this year to meet with local officials to discuss counterterrorism strategies.
“Instead of bolstering the UN’s authority by resisting Beijing’s cynical offer, we witnessed the erosion of UN leadership in a blow to the reputation and credibility of a body we should instead look to as a clear voice of conscience,” Sullivan said of Vladimir Voronkov’s three-day visit in June.
“The UN must seek the immediate, unhindered and unmonitored access for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights,” he added.
Sullivan was speaking at a panel discussion on human rights in Xinjiang, hosted by the US along with Canada, Germany, the Netherlands and Britain.