UN human rights chief says China trip will include stop in Xinjiang

United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said her visit to China in May will include a stop in the Chinese region of Xinjiang, where human rights abuses have been reported against the Uyghur population, according to Reuters. 

“I am pleased to announce that we have recently reached an agreement with the government of China for a visit,” Bachelet said in a video address to the UN’s Human Rights Council.

China has been accused of committing genocide against Uyghurs, the ethnic minority group native to Xinjiang. The UN has estimated that between tens of thousands to “upwards of 1 million” Uighurs in China have been taken to camps in Xinjiang Province. 

China’s ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva Chen Xu told the Human Rights Council that “we welcome the High Commissioner’s visit to Xinjiang this May. And China will work together with the OHCHR to make good preparation for this visit.”

Bachelet, the former President of Chile, has been trying to gain access to the region for years.

The South China Morning Post previously reported that a spokeswoman in Bachelet’s office said the discussions were “ongoing” for her visit to China and “the parameters for a visit will have to be such that the high commissioner has unfettered, meaningful access, including unsupervised interviews with civil society”.

The UNHRC did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.

Bachelet made no reference to her long-awaited report on alleged abuses against Uyghurs in her most recent comments about the visit.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Faruk Kaymakci last week voiced concern about the treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, Reuters added.