GENEVA, 25 Aug. (DPA/EP) –
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, criticized this Thursday the pressure she is suffering from the imminent publication of a report on the situation of Human Rights in the Chinese region of Xinjiang, where the Uyghurs reside, a minority Muslim confession.
In a press conference a little less than a week before her term ends, Bachelet has indicated that she has received a letter from at least 40 countries — without naming them — that have demanded that she not publish a report on the conditions of the Uyghur minority in this region of China.
“I have been under tremendous pressure. But I will not withhold publication because of it,” explained the High Commissioner, adding that her office is working to have the text finished by the end of August, as planned.
Bachelet visited Xinjiang and other Chinese regions last May. During the visit, he refrained from criticizing Beijing’s policies in the region, which drew criticism from many countries for its ambiguity regarding human rights violations in the region.
Human Rights Watch spokesman John Fisher (HRW) has already explained that it would be a “negligence of duty” for Bachelet to fail the Uyghurs and other victims. “At stake is his own reputation and legacy, the credibility of his office and the trust of the victims and their families,” he said in Geneva.
The United Nations rapporteur Tomoya Obokata considered in August “reasonable” the denunciations of international organizations about forced labor and the repression against ethnic minorities in the Asian giant.
Obokata explained that it was “reasonable” to conclude that Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other ethnic minorities have repeatedly experienced forced labor in sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing.
The Chinese authorities have launched a series of measures in the Xinjiang region that have caused friction between the Asian giant and the international community, especially the United States, which has come to accuse Beijing of committing human rights violations and even genocide. against the Uighur population.
Add Comment