UN human rights chief due in Xinjiang this year, says China’s envoy amid concerns over stage-managed visits
- Visit to camps for mostly Muslim minorities that China calls ‘training centres’ must give full access, Michelle Bachelet’s spokesman says
- But negotiations stalled last year and no UN high commissioner for human rights has visited China since 2005
UN experts and activists say at least 1 million ethnic Uygurs and other Muslims are held in detention centres in Xinjiang, in China’s far west. China describes them as vocational training centres helping to stamp out terrorism and extremism and give people new skills.
Bachelet’s spokesman Rupert Colville had no immediate comment, but activists said that any visit would have to be independent and credible with full access.
Chen Xu, China’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, told the UN Human Rights Council that its “deradicalisation” measures had led to a “marked improvement in security and better protection of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang”, where there had been “no single terror attack” for three years.
“We are looking forward to the visit of the high commissioner, Mrs Bachelet, to China including to Xinjiang this year, and we are working closely with her office on detailed arrangements for her visit,” Chen said.