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Michelle Bachelet confirmed this June 13, in Geneva, that she will not aspire to a second term as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, a position she has held since 2018. The former president of Chile, who indicated personal reasons, will not renew her mandate after receiving strong criticism for his visit in May to Xinjiang, China, where the United States says authorities manipulated and limited a full assessment of widespread abuses.
Michelle Bachelet will not seek a second term as High Commissioner for Human Rights. H H. of the UN at a time when the world faces one of the worst periods for human rights and after receiving strong criticism for her recent visit to China.
Bachelet, who began in office in 2018, ends her term on August 31 and although some expected her to renew it, the diplomat announced that she would not run again.
“As my term as High Commissioner draws to a close, the historic 50th session of this Council will be the last I will report on,” she said in a surprise announcement at the end of a wide-ranging address to the Human Rights Council, based in in Geneva.
Bachelet, who was the first female president of Chile, alluded to personal reasons for not prolonging her current position. She assured that she intends to return to her country and spend time with her family.
The 70-year-old leader maintained that this step is not related to her controversial visit to Xinjiang last May. “Two months ago, even before I went to China, I made a decision and informed my boss, the secretary general (António Guterres). So it is unrelated,” she stressed to the press.
However, in the last month, the former president has faced strong criticism from civil groups and western governments, including the United States, for not doing enough against the widespread abuses in the western province of Xinjiang, during the trip in which she was met with President Xi Jinping and other senior officials.
Bachelet’s visit to China, an “absolute disaster”?
Beijing has come under fire for allegedly illegally detaining members of the Uyghur Muslim minority in concentration camps in Xinjiang and subjecting them to forced labor.
The Chinese government denies the accusations and maintains that it is simply taking them to “educational camps”, a term strongly rejected to justify the abuses, according to the complaints.
Last month, Bachelet traveled to that western Chinese region, the first such visit by a UN human rights official in 17 years. But for many, the visit was wasted and Bachelet would have consented to the limitation of the local authorities so as not to allow a complete evaluation of the situation.
The executive director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), Kenneth Roth, described Bachelet’s official trip as an “absolute disaster” and criticized the diplomat for using the term “VETC”, which the Xi Jinping government uses to refer to so-called vocational education and training centers, which according to the West and HRW are mass detention facilities.
“The trip could not have gone better for the Chinese government in its effort to hide the mass arrests and abuses in Xinjiang,” Roth said.
To the surprise of some, the High Commissioner used that term again during her speech on Monday, June 13. However, the official said that her office is working on an updated assessment of the human rights situation in Xinjiang.
Bachelet defended the work of her mission and stated that her temporary stay was not intended to carry out “investigative work”, but rather it was “an opportunity to maintain a direct dialogue, listen to us, raise our concerns and pave the way for there will be transcendent interactions on a more regular basis in the future.
Some diplomatic circles were also unsatisfied with what was achieved in Xinjiang.
According to Roth’s analysis, Bachelet “sees herself, due to her experience as head of state, as a diplomat instead of a rapporteur on human rights issues, but that is not her mission, but to investigate and report abuses,” he reiterated.
The UN will appoint a new High Commissioner in one of the worst periods for human rights
With her departure from office, the UN will have to find a successor before Bachelet hands over her mandate in about two months, and the challenge is broad given the serious context for respect for human rights in different countries.
Although the High Commissioner’s findings and recommendations do not represent a legal obligation for governments, his assessments and policies have an important impact on them.
Whoever replaces her will find vast reports on DD violations. H H. around the world, a situation aggravated by the expansion of authoritarianism, the war in Ukraine, the global crisis of forced displacement and the food crisis that has brought more than 300 million people to the brink of famine.
This Monday, Bachelet referred to the situation of abuses in Russia and blamed the Kremlin authorities for “arbitrary arrests” against a large number of protesters who oppose the invasion of Ukraine. Arrests that he cataloged as “worrying”.
The leader also raised concerns about restrictions on abortion, referring to the United States, where the Supreme Court is expected to overturn a landmark ruling on the right to voluntary termination of pregnancy for the entire country.
With Reuters, EFE and AP
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