UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet says she had the opportunity to speak “candidly” with the Chinese about the human rights situation in the country during her six-day visit to China. It did not have the status of an official investigation, she said.
The program of the visit included a visit to the Xinjiang region. According to observers and western countries, the Uyghur Muslim minority is severely oppressed here.
Beijing is accused of detaining more than a million Uyghurs and other Muslims, imposing forced labor and forcibly sterilizing women.
Bachelet said he was able to hold talks with those involved without Chinese interference. During those talks, she appealed, among other things, to the authorities to provide urgent information to Uyghurs in Xinjiang who have lost contact with relatives.
The authorities in Xinjiang province have allegedly assured her that a so-called “network of vocational training centers” has been dismantled. According to human rights groups, these centers are forced reeducation camps.
A meeting between Bachelet and President Xi Jinping was also on the agenda. She describes the visit as an opportunity to “listen to each other”. She also addressed the criticism that she had not judged the human rights situation sharply enough during the trip. “I heard you,” she said after her visit.
Bachelet’s critics previously described the visit to China as a propaganda trip. Chinese media reported that Bachelet would have embraced their view of human rights. Her office subsequently stated that her comments did not constitute direct support.