The United Nations will not move to verify reports Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities are being persecuted in China until the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) gives permission, U.N. secretary-general Antonio Guterres confirmed Sunday.
The treatment of the Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang province has been in the spotlight over many months, as Breitbart News has reported, with allegations pointing to forced labour camps, physical and sexual abuses and other human rights violations.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said last month reports of arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, sexual violence and forced labour in Xinjiang necessitated a thorough and independent assessment but was conditional on China’s approval.
Bachelet said in February that talks on organising a visit had begun but no agreement had yet been reached.
Guterres said in an interview shown by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) visitation was currently being negotiated with Chinese authorities but no permission has yet been given.
“I hope that they will reach an agreement soon and that the human rights commissioner will be able to visit China without restrictions or limitations,” he said on Sunday, Australia’s ABC network reports.
China said it welcomed those visiting Xinjiang, but they should not be used as a form of “political manipulation” to pressure China.
“The purpose of this visit should be to promote interaction and cooperation, and not to carry out so-called investigation on the presumption of guilt,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a news briefing in Beijing on Monday.
China’s acknowledgement of global concerns comes just days after it announced sanctions on a number of high-profile British politicians, lawyers, and campaigners, in retaliation for sanctions on regime officials for human rights abuses in Xinjiang, as Breitbart London reported.
For its part, Beijing denies any mistreatment and said all ethnic groups in Xinjiang and the Tibetan region enjoy wide-ranging freedoms and can live lives of peace and religious fulfillment under the watchful auspices of the Chinese Communist Party and its cadres.
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