UN human rights chief seeks Xinjiang visit this year amid ‘reports of serious violations’

Michelle Bachelet’s office has been negotiating with Beijing since 2018 and it’s the first time she has publicly suggested a timeline

She also says national security law imposed in Hong Kong has had a ‘chilling impact’ and trials of those charged will be ‘an important test’

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Michelle Bachelet, UN high commissioner for human rights, is under pressure to secure unfettered access to China’s Xinjiang region. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:47pm, 21 Jun 2021Updated: 10:47pm, 21 Jun 2021

The top UN human rights official on Monday said she hoped to agree terms for a visit this year to China, including its Xinjiang region, to look into reports of serious violations against Muslim Uygurs.

It was the first time that Michelle Bachelet had publicly suggested a timeline for the visit, which her office has been negotiating the terms of since September 2018.

Bachelet is under growing pressure from Western states to secure unfettered access to Xinjiang, where activists say more than 1 million Uygurs and other Turkic Muslims have been held in camps, some of them mistreated or subject to forced labour.

Beijing denies the accusations and describes the camps as vocational training facilities to combat religious extremism.

“I continue to discuss with China modalities for a visit, including meaningful access, to the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, and hope this can be achieved this year, particularly as reports of serious human rights violations continue to emerge,” Bachelet told the opening of a Human Rights Council session.

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