UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet denied on Wednesday that she had received a letter from Chinese authorities asking her to refrain from publishing a report on alleged human rights violations against Uighur residents of the region of Xinjiang.
“There is no letter from the Chinese authorities, no. The truth is that there is a letter from countries, just as there are letters from countries that ask me to publish it, there are letters from countries that ask me not to publish it, this is normal”, declared Bachelet at a press conference in Lima. .
The former president of Chile assured that her cabinet continues to work to update the report on Xinjiang to which it has committed and that it will be shared with the country in question before leaving office, following usual practices.
Human rights organizations and, more discreetly, some States, have severely criticized the conclusions offered by the UN High Commissioner after her trip to China at the end of May, considering that they were too lenient and that her visit will not allow a real assessment of the human rights of the Uighur minority, established in the western province of Xinjiang.
In recent years, at least 1 million Uighurs have been detained by the Chinese government in so-called re-education centers, accusations the authorities have vigorously denied.
On June 15, during a presentation at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Bachelet acknowledged that she had not been able to speak with any detainees in the re-education camps, but argued that on her visit to China she was able to raise troubling questions about rights to the political leaders of the country.
“I have not been able to speak with any Uighurs currently detained or their families, but anticipating this, I have met former detainees who are out of the country and families who have lost contact with their loved ones in that region,” he said.
Bachelet also recalled that her office has been collecting information about the situation in Xinjiang remotely for a long time and, based on that, will publish the long-awaited report on the human rights situation of the Uighurs, which was initially supposed to be released in December last year. .
Last June, Bachelet denied that the decision to end her term on August 31 had anything to do with this trip to the Asian country and assured that she had already communicated her decision to leave the post before going to China.
The UN High Commissioner made these statements during a press conference in Lima to take stock of her visit to Peru, where she met with authorities from the three branches of the State, as well as indigenous representatives, the private sector and civil society to analyze the situation. of fundamental freedoms in the country.
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