Secretary Blinken expressed concern over the visit to China by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

U.S. Secretary of State Blinken on Saturday (May 28) expressed concern about the visit to China by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, and issued the following statement.

“The United States remains concerned about the visit of U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet and her team to the People’s Republic of China, as well as China’s efforts to limit and manipulate her visit,” Blinken said. As we continue to report directly to Beijing raised our concerns about China’s human rights violations, and to provide support to the rest of the concerns about human rights in China at the same time, we are concerned that Beijing authorities to impose conditions on access, not on China’s human rights environment complete and independent assessment, including genocide and crimes against humanity is taking place in Xinjiang.”

Blinken noted, “We are even more disturbed by reports that residents of Xinjiang have been warned not to complain or speak openly about conditions in the area, with no information provided about the whereabouts of hundreds of missing Uighurs and more than a million detained people. The High Commissioner was supposed to have been granted secret meetings with family members of Uighurs and other ethnic expatriate communities in Xinjiang who are not in detention but are barred from leaving the country. We also note that the High Commissioner was not allowed access to individuals who were involved in the labour transfer programmer in Xinjiang and were posted to other provinces in China.”

Blinken stressed that “the United States remains deeply concerned about the human rights situation in China, particularly in light of new reports that provide further evidence of arbitrary detention among the more than 1 million people detained in Xinjiang. Survivors and family members of detainees have described appalling cruelty, including torture, forced sterilizations, state-sponsored forced labor, sexual violence and forced separation of children from their parents. We also urge the People’s Republic of China to respect the human rights of Tibetans, those living in Hong Kong and all others who seek to peacefully exercise the human rights and fundamental freedoms enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We reiterate our call on the People’s Republic of China to immediately end its brutality in Xinjiang, release those unjustly detained, account for the whereabouts of those who are missing, and allow independent investigators unimpeded access to Xinjiang, Tibet, and across China.”