UN human rights chief Bachelet says no to second term, ‘no relationship’ to China trip
- Michelle Bachelet, 70, says she will spend more time with family in Chile; some diplomats expected her to stay on when 4-year term ends in August
- She was criticised by rights groups and some governments over her visit last month to China; they said she did not do enough to act against alleged abuses against Uygurs in western region of Xinjiang
The United Nations human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, said on Monday that she would not seek a second term for personal reasons, refuting speculation that it was a decision linked to blowback over her trip to China last month.
Bachelet has faced mounting criticism for not speaking out more forcefully against allegations of widespread rights abuses in some countries, most notably in China.
The 70-year-old was criticised by rights groups as well as some Western governments, including the United States, who said the conditions Chinese authorities imposed on her visit did not enable a complete and independent assessment of the rights environment.
“As my term as High Commissioner draws to a close, this Council’s milestone fiftieth session will be the last which I brief,” she said in a surprise announcement at the end of a wide-ranging speech to the Geneva-based Human Rights Council.
Later, she said the decision was not related to her China trip, adding that she intended to return to Chile and spend time with her family.
“Two months ago, before even going to China, I made a decision and I informed my boss, the Secretary-General (Antonio Guterres). So it has no relationship,” she told reporters.
Some diplomats said they had expected Bachelet, a 70-year-old former president of Chile, to stay on after her four-year term expires in August. There was murmuring in the Geneva Council room when she made the announcement.
European Parliament passes landslide vote on alleged Xinjiang rights abuses
In her speech, she said her office was working on an updated assessment of the human rights situation in China’s western region of Xinjiang, where there are widespread allegations that mostly Muslim Uygur people have been unlawfully detained, mistreated and forced to work.
China denies all accusations of abuse there.
“It will be shared with the government for factual comments before publication,” she said of her report, which was due to be published months ago. Asked about the timing, Bachelet said it would be released before her term ends.
China-US divide over UN human rights chief’s visit to Xinjiang
Bachelet, who went from torture victim under Augusto Pinochet to become the first woman to serve as president of Chile, has emphasised the importance of dialogue and discrete diplomacy in forwarding rights in various countries.
This approach has not sat well with some and she has faced significant resistance over her restraint, especially when it comes to China.
Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch called her China trip an “unmitigated disaster” and criticised Bachelet for using China’s term “VETCs”, for vocational education and training centres, to describe mass detention facilities in Xinjiang.
01:50
China claims improved living standards and ethnic equality in Xinjiang while ignoring allegations
She repeated the term in her speech on Monday.
On the rights situation in Russia, she said the arbitrary arrest of a large number of protesters there opposed to the invasion of Ukraine was “worrying”.
Bachelet also raised concern about abortion restrictions, referring to the United States where the Supreme Court is expected to strike down a landmark ruling on nationwide abortion rights.
The 47 members of the UN Human Rights Council will discuss the situation across the world for the next four weeks. The countries on the council are voted in for three years by the UN General Assembly.
