UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet caps China trip with call for counterterrorism review

Bachelet says she raised concerns in Xinjiang about impact of deradicalisation measures on Uygurs and other minorities

Arrests of lawyers, activists and journalists under the national security law in Hong Kong are deeply worrying, she says

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UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet says she raised concerns about the use of counterterrorism and deradicalisation measures, particularly in relation to Uygurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities. Photo: Reuters

Published: 10:55pm, 28 May 2022Updated: 2:14pm, 29 May 2022

United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet capped her landmark trip to China on Saturday by calling on Beijing to review all its counterterrorism and anti-radicalisation policies to make sure they complied with international human rights standards.

In the southern city of Guangzhou, Bachelet said China and her office agreed to form a working group to exchange views on the rights of minorities and human rights in relation to counterterrorism, the internet and legal protection.

The six-day trip – the first to China by a UN human rights high commissioner since 2005 – took Bachelet to Kashgar and Urumqi in the far-western region of Xinjiang, where the Chinese government has been accused of forced sterilisation and mass internment of members of the Uygur ethnic group and other Muslim minorities.

China has denied the allegations, saying the internment camps are vocational training centres for deradicalisation and to tackle terrorism.

Bachelet said she went to one of the centres, which closed in 2009 and had since become a school, asking its former vice-president about human rights concerns.