The UN rights chief announced Tuesday that she will visit China in May, with her team heading soon to Xinjiang, where Beijing stands accused of serious abuses, to prepare.
“I am pleased to announce that we have recently reached an agreement with the government of China for a visit,” Michelle Bachelet told the UN Human Rights Council.
She said her office and Beijing had “initiated concrete preparations for a visit that is foreseen to take place in May.”
There have long been calls for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit Xinjiang.
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Rights groups say that at least one million mostly Muslim minorities have been incarcerated in “re-education camps” in Xinjiang, a far-western region where China is accused of widespread human rights abuses including forced sterilizations of women and forced labor.
The US government and lawmakers in five other Western countries have declared China’s treatment of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang a “genocide” – a charge flatly denied by Beijing.
Beijing vehemently denies all such charges.
The UN rights office, OHCHR, has also drafted a report on the rights situation in Xinjiang, but its publication has long been delayed and it remains unclear when, if ever, it will be made public.
Beijing has for years said that Bachelet was welcome to visit Xinjiang but reaching an agreement on her demand for “meaningful and unfettered access” has until now appeared elusive.
On the sidelines of the Winter Olympics, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told leaders in Beijing last month that he expected them to allow Bachelet to make a “credible” visit to China, including to Xinjiang.
And on Tuesday, she said an agreement had been reached.
“Preparations will have to take into account COVID-19 regulations,” she told the rights council.
“The government has also accepted the visit of an advanced OHCHR team to prepare my stay in China, including onsite visits to Xinjiang and other places,” she said.
“This team will depart to China next month.”
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