On Saturday, the UN's top human rights official expressed worry to Chinese officials about the impact of comprehensive anti-terror and deradicalization measures on the rights of Uyghurs and other primarily Muslim populations in China's Xinjiang province.
Michelle Bachelet, who visited Xinjiang as part of a six-day trip to China, said the visit was not intended to be an investigation, but rather an opportunity to raise concerns with senior Chinese leaders and pave the way for more regular interactions to help China meet its international human rights obligations.
“It provides an opportunity for me to better understand the situation in China, but also for the authorities in China to better understand our concerns and to potentially rethink policies that we believe may impact negatively on human rights,” she said in a video news conference on the final day of her trip.
It's unclear whether China's ruling Communist Party, which has categorically refuted all allegations of human rights abuses and genocide in Xinjiang, will adjust its policies. Bachelet's cautious statements, while expected, are unlikely to please activists and governments such as the United States, which have criticised her visit to Xinjiang.
Bachelet said she emphasised the absence of independent judicial monitoring for a system of internment camps that swept up a million or more Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities, according to estimates by experts, during the first visit by a U.N. high commissioner for human rights to China in 17 years.
The camps have been disbanded, according to China, which portrays them as vocational training and education institutes to combat extremism. The government has never publicly said how many people passed through them.
Bachelet, who visited a prison and former centre in Kashgar, Xinjiang, remarked that the programme relied on police to identify "tendencies toward extremism," as well as claims of excessive use of force at the centres and unreasonably harsh religious restrictions.
"It's vital that counter-terrorism responses don't result in abuses of human rights," she said. "The implementation of applicable laws and regulations, as well as any required measures," she stated, "ought to be subject to independent judicial scrutiny, with increased transparency in judicial processes."
She said she had heard from Uyghur families living overseas who had lost communication with their loved ones before her trip. She said she brought up a number of specific situations in her talks in China and urged officials to take immediate action to provide information to families.
"I heard people who wrote me appeals requesting that I file issues or cases with the authorities," she stated. "It's important that you advocate."
According to Bachelet, the United Nations and China agreed to establish a working group to have follow-up conversations on a variety of problems, including minorities' rights, counterterrorism and human rights, and legal protection.
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