Bachelet will not be able to do it until after the Olympics or qualify it as “research”
Since taking office as UN High Representative for Human Rights in September 2018, former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has tried to obtain authorization from China to visit the autonomous region of Xinjiang, where, according to the US, other countries and humanitarian organizations, the Beijing government is carrying out a genocide against twelve million people of the Uyghur ethnic group, one million of whom are in concentration camps. Your request has finally been accepted, but with conditions.
The visit cannot take place until after the Olympic Games, which will open on Friday and end on February 20. Nor can it constitute “an investigation,” the South China Morning Post has said. In exchange for accepting these conditions, which will allow China to postpone the publication of an expected report so that it does not stain the celebration of the Olympics even more, and frame it in terms that will lessen the consequences, Bachelet wants unrestricted access to the concentration camps that China considers “training and educational vocation”.
The repression of this Muslim ethnic group with Turkish roots intensified after President Xi Jinping announced in 2017 a new campaign to suppress “imported” religions that he considers sects contrary to state socialism. In fact, Xi had already cracked down on the Uyghurs since he was appointed general secretary of the party in 2010, following the Urumqui riots and his separatist attempts.
China denies the abuses described by those who have managed to escape from those camps, calling it propaganda against its government. “Another thing is the fight against terrorism,” said the Chinese ambassador in Washington, Qin Gang, to the NPR network this week.
To combat these “completely fabricated” accusations, he has invited Western journalists to these “re-education” camps, where he has presented them with grotesque shows of children singing versions of “if you are happy, clap your hands” in English. Bachelet can expect similar situations, but her report will not limit itself to describing what the Chinese government wants her to see. In addition to testimonies of rape, forced sterilization, torture, family separation, kidnapping, and forced labor, the entire Xinjiang region is now closely watched by a statewide network of police checkpoints, mobile apps that monitor citizens’ behavior and limit even the use of electricity and cameras that scan their facial features and license plates, according to Human Rights Watch, which describes it as crimes against humanity.
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