On Saturday, May 28, in China, the UN human rights chief stated that her visit was not an investigation and urged Beijing to end "arbitrary" actions against the Muslim Uyghur minority.
Michelle Bachelet claimed that she had "heard" some people criticizing her in recent days during an online press conference.
The former Chilean president, aged 70, claimed that he had spoken to "candor," a communist leader about the current campaign in Xinjiang (northwest) to fight anti-terrorism. According to authorities, the massive Chinese territory has been the site of violent attacks on civilians for a long time. These attacks were committed by Uyghur separatists as well as Islamists, the largest ethnic group in the area.
Xinjiang is home to 26million people and has been under draconian surveillance since several years. Western studies claim that Beijing has held more than a million Uyghurs, and other Muslim ethnic group members in "reeducation camps", as well as imposing "forced labour" or "forced sterilizations." The United States refers to a "genocide."
China condemns biased reporting and refers to "vocational training centres" that are intended to create employment and eliminate extremism. She denied any forced sterilization and said only that she would follow the national birth control policies.
Many associations representing the defense of human right and members of diaspora claim that Beijing has caught in its anti-terrorist campaign a number of people who haven't committed any crime. They claim that Uyghurs were interned solely on the basis of pretended extremism. This could be due to a long beard, suspicious travel abroad, or strong religious beliefs.
Michelle Bachelet urged China to stop its "arbitrary and indiscriminate” counter-terrorism campaign against Xinjiang on Saturday, while condemning "violent acts extremism".
Former Chilean president is under the attack of Uyghurs based in the USA and human rights groups. They accuse him not being critical enough of Beijing and that he allowed himself to be drawn into a communication operation by the Chinese Communist Party.
According to Chinese state media, she would have praised China for its progress in human rights. These remarks were not confirmed or denied by the UN services.
The High Commissioner said that "this visit was not an inquiry." She defended her visit, claiming she was able access to people in Xinjiang that were not controlled by authorities. Michelle Bachelet claims that she met with representatives of civil society in the region and the head CCP. This area is one of the most closely monitored in the world.
Many Uyghur families claim they don't have any news about their relatives in prison. Michelle Bachelet stated that "this issue and other have been raised with authorities" and added that she had "raised many cases, very important cases".
This was the 17th anniversary of the High Commissioner for Human Rights' visit. This visit follows hard negotiations between Beijing and the United Nations.
Michelle Bachelet visited Xinjiang, the regional capital Urumqi, and Kashgar (a city where the Uyghur community is especially important). However, no details about his itinerary were made public. According to the Chilean ex-president, she visited Kashgar prison, where she witnessed prisoners and described its access as "fairly transparent, fairly open".
She claimed that she was assured by the Xinjiang government that the network "vocational training centres" had been "dismantled". Michelle Bachelet claimed that she had visited one of these centers.
Michelle Bachelet was kept away from foreign media by the UN delegation. This was due to the fact that the UN delegation was aware of the Chinese epidemic. The Chinese state media reported only his meetings with President Xi Jinping, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
