But the report itself appears to be bogged down in revision, after months of delay, with Bachelet on Thursday saying her office was “trying” to release it before the end of her term on August 31, as she had promised in June, but they were still looking at “substantial evidence” from China, which it said had been granted access to make “genuine comments” in accordance with standard procedure. Publishing a strong report — and acting on it — would mean antagonizing China, which has amassed what many U.N. experts and experts call significant power among countries within the U.N. system, built with leveraging its economic power and championing an alternative vision of human rights — as well as systematically pushing any effort, however small, to challenge its human rights record, including the High Commissioner’s report. Earlier in her term, Bachelet said she sought “full access to carry out an independent assessment of ongoing reports indicating large patterns of enforced disappearances and arbitrary detentions,” but she was not granted unrestricted access on her potential trip last May. he said the report was updated after that trip. China’s foreign ministry has already publicly condemned the report, with a spokesman late last month calling on the high commissioner’s office to “respect the serious concern of the Chinese people and those who speak for justice in the world, to stand on the right side of history and reject publishing an assessment of Xinjiang based on false information and false accusations.” The spokesman did not confirm whether Beijing had seen the forthcoming report at the time or specified which parts it believed to be “false”, although China has strongly denied all rights abuses. Bachelet said on Thursday that the report “examines in depth” allegations of “serious human rights violations”.

UN battlefield

For years, China has wielded considerable influence over how the UN might approach allegations of significant rights abuses against the country’s Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities, using its economic and political influence to push back a growing body of journalism. reporting, academic research and survivor accounts. , say people with knowledge of activities within the international organization. At the Human Rights Council, the UN’s top rights body, Beijing is working hard to counter countries’ efforts to hold it to account, using “relentless lobbying” and leverage such as access to vaccines, according to a Geneva-based Western diplomat . “There are many countries that will be alarmed by Chinese reactions or (fall) prey to the Chinese lobby,” the diplomat added, describing this as a key reason why a majority could not be reached in the council to carry out an investigation. .
A rotating body of 47 nations elected from each of the world’s regions, the council can agree by consensus or majority to resolutions to establish investigative mechanisms such as those launched to look into alleged violations in places such as Myanmar, Libya and , most recently, Ukraine.
Instead, joint calls from dozens of countries presented at the Human Rights Council for China to honor its rights obligations and allow independent monitors into Xinjiang faced a bloc of even more Beijing-aligned states with their own message. : “Hong Kong, Xinjiang and issues related to Tibet are China’s internal affairs.”
The situation “is clearly extreme,” said Steven Rapp, a former war crimes prosecutor and US ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice. “And that’s a reflection, not of the data, but of China’s political power.” “There is far more than the necessary credible evidence to justify a human rights investigation … and (the evidence) is stronger and more widespread, with a larger number of victims than many cases where there have been overwhelming votes to establish commissions of inquiry,” he added.
The claims are that China has locked up more than 1 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities of all ages and walks of life in a network of heavily fortified detention centers and re-education camps, where there are reports of torture, sexual violence and forced sterilization. While exact figures for how many in Xinjiang, home to 11.6 million Uyghurs, are hard to estimate, the “Uyghur Court,” an international group of lawyers, academics and NGO representatives, in 2021 said hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs – – with some estimates exceeding one million – have been detained, a finding also cited by the US State Department. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which reports to the UN, also cited a similar scale of population impact in its 2018 statement, citing “numerous reports”. Several government bodies have condemned the alleged abuses in recent years, with the European Parliament in June saying the evidence constituted a “serious risk of genocide”, a term also used by the US. China, which initially denied the camps existed, later said it had set up “vocational education and training centers” as a way to combat “extremism” in a region where ethnic unrest in 2009 left 197 people dead, officials said. and there have long been Communist Party fears of terrorism and separatism. Beijing has called allegations of rights abuses, genocide and forced labor in the region “the lie of the century”. In May, during Bachelet’s official trip to China — the first by a top UN rights official in 17 years — the high commissioner said the government assured her that the system of “vocational education and training centers” “destroyed”. We say that oppression continues, although it is now absorbed into the prison system and transformed into a mechanism of forced labor and a culture of fear and surveillance. A spokesman for the Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China to the United Nations in Geneva said in an emailed response to CNN that during her visit to China, Bachelet “observed with her own eyes China’s progress and achievements on human rights. what a real Xinjiang looks like: a region that enjoys security, social stability and good development, and its people live and work in peace and happiness.” “China strongly opposes the attempt to slander and attack China by fabricating disinformation. China’s fair position has won the strong support of the international community. The attempt by a small number of countries to use Xinjiang-related issues to carry out political manipulation, tarnishes China’s image and China’s containment and suppression is doomed to fail,” the spokesman said. Beijing has previously stated that “respecting and protecting freedom of religious belief is the basic policy of the (Chinese Communist Party) and the Chinese government” and that religious and non-religious people “enjoy the same political, economic, social and cultural rights. “ “Allegations of ‘genocide’, ‘forced labour’ and ‘religious oppression’ are pure lies,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told a Human Rights Council meeting in February. “Xinjiang’s door is open, and we welcome people from all over the world who have no prejudice to come to Xinjiang for visits and exchanges.” China is far from seeking to use its influence and diplomacy to block criticism and scrutiny of its rights record at the UN, and powerful countries can usually be difficult to hold accountable, but they are among the most effective. and singularly focused on the push, observers say. She also linked her efforts to a broader struggle for the UN’s own purpose, in terms of how countries should monitor and hold each other accountable. “Sure, there are elements of coercion, diplomatic pressure, alliances, etc., but there are also, deep down, different understandings of human rights,” Frédéric Mégret, co-director of the Center for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism at McGill University Canada. “(China) will emphasize ‘constructive dialogue’, (as well as) states with each other should engage in constructive dialogue and make polite suggestions, but they should not be finger-pointing, they should not blame,” he said .

Forthcoming report

Although there are differing visions of the UN and the Geneva-based Human Rights Council in its halls, several UN experts and legal experts have spoken to CNN that how the UN responds to these allegations is a test of credibility. of as a protector of rights. “Our view, and the view of some countries that share our concern, is that when we look back a decade or more from now, if nothing happens (at the UN), we will see this as the greatest unfathomable human rights disaster in recent memory. 20 years old,” a second Western diplomat in Geneva told CNN. “The gap between the scale and scope of what is happening and the degree to which it has been addressed publicly, formally and officially (at the UN) is really remarkable. We are very aware of that,” the diplomat said. The impasse among countries at the Human Rights Council over how to respond to the allegations is one reason why those who have tried to hold China accountable — including members of the Uyghur family in Xinjiang — are closely watching Bachelet’s release REPORT . “My sense is that a lot of diplomats are waiting for this report. Once it comes out, I could see them coming together and pointing to the UN report to say, ‘we can’t look away from this evidence from the very institutions that we are “part of it,” said human rights lawyer Rayhan Asat, who is the sister of the Uyghur businessman…