• News
  • Sport
  • TV
  • Radio
  • Education
  • TV Licences
  • Contact Us

For all official information and updates regarding COVID-19, visit the South African Department of Health's website at www.sacoronavirus.co.za

No Result
View All Result
  • SOUTH AFRICA
  • POLITICS
  • BUSINESS
  • SPORT
  • AFRICA
  • WORLD
  • SCI-TECH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • FEATURES
  • OPINION
Home World

UN rights chief speaks with Xi after criticism of China trip

25 May 2022, 10:20 AM  |
Reuters Reuters |  @SABCNews
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet

Image: Reuters

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet

Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke on Wednesday by video with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, who is on a visit that has drawn criticism from rights groups and which the United States has called a mistake.

While Bachelet’s six-day trip will include a visit to the far western region of Xinjiang, where her office said last year it believes mostly Muslim ethnic Uyghurs have been unlawfully detained, mistreated and forced to work, there was no mention of it in a state media account of their video meeting.

Xi told Bachelet that China’s development of human rights “suits its own national conditions”, and that among the various types of human rights, the rights to subsistence and development were primary for developing countries.

“Deviating from reality and copying wholesale the institutional model of other countries will not only fit badly with the local conditions, but also bring disastrous consequences,” the Xinhua state news agency quoted Xi as saying.

“In the end, it is the broad masses of the people who will suffer,” he said.

Bachelet’s office did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

Critics have said they did not believe Bachelet would be granted necessary access to make a full assessment of the rights situation in Xinjiang.

Bachelet has called for unfettered access in Xinjiang, but China’s foreign ministry has said her visit would be conducted in a “closed loop”, referring to a way of isolating people within a “bubble” to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

China denies all abuses.

‘A MISTAKE’

On Tuesday, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said it was “a mistake to agree to a visit under the circumstances”.

The United States has described China’s treatment of Uyghurs as genocide.

Bachelet’s long-anticipated visit to China, the first by a holder of her office in 17 years, has been fraught since its inception, largely over concern that it could lead to endorsement rather than scrutiny of China’s rights record.

On Monday, Bachelet told Beijing-based diplomats that her Xinjiang trip was “not an investigation” into China’s rights record but about longer-term engagement with Chinese authorities, three Western diplomats told Reuters.

Some diplomats voiced concern that she would not be given “unhindered and meaningful” access.

“I’m a grown woman,” she responded to those concerns, two diplomats briefed on the call said. “I’m able to read between the lines.”

Bachelet explained that although her access was limited because of COVID, she had set up some meetings with people independently of Chinese authorities.

On Tuesday, several global media outlets reported on thousands of leaked photos and documents from public security bureaus in two Xinjiang counties detailing mass detention of Uyghurs between January and July of 2018. Reuters could not independently verify the documents.

China initially denied the existence of any detention camps in Xinjiang but in 2018 said it had set up “vocational training centers” necessary to curb what it said was terrorism, separatism and religious radicalism in Xinjiang.

In 2019, Xinjiang Governor Shohrat Zakir said all trainees had “graduated”.

On Monday, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi presented Bachelet with a book of Xi’s quotations on human rights.

Share article
Tags: United StatesChinaXi JinpingUN High Commissioner for Human RightsMichelle Bachelet
Previous Post

Kenyans decry high cost of living as economy registers highest growth in a decade

Next Post

Environmentalists urge African governments to increase climate action, reduce reliance on fossil fuels

Related Posts

Protestors have the first say as G7 Summit opens in Germany

25 June 2022, 8:10 PM
U.S. President Joe Biden

Biden signs gun safety bill into law at Supreme Court

25 June 2022, 4:48 PM

Prince Charles expresses sorrow over slavery in Commonwealth speech

25 June 2022, 3:29 PM
Anti-abortion demonstrators celebrate outside the United States Supreme Court as the court rules in the Dobbs v Women’s Health Organization abortion case, overturning the landmark Roe v Wade abortion decision in Washington, US, June 24, 2022.

‘It’s all about control:’ protesters in Texas decry Roe v. Wade overturning

25 June 2022, 1:34 PM
Security forces stand at the site where several people were injured during a shooting outside the London pub in central Oslo, Norway June 25, 2022.

Two dead, 14 wounded in Norway nightclub shooting

25 June 2022, 6:00 AM
Pope Francis attends the funeral of former Vatican's Secretary of State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, at St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican May 31, 2022.

Vatican praises US Court decision on abortion, saying it challenges world

25 June 2022, 3:24 AM
Next Post
[File Image] Clouds gather but produce no rain as cracks are seen in the dried up municipal dam in drought-stricken Graaff-Reinet, South Africa, November 14, 2019.

Environmentalists urge African governments to increase climate action, reduce reliance on fossil fuels

Most Viewed

  • 24hrs
  • Week
  • Month
  • EMS says fire at Bree Street Taxi Rank in Johannesburg has been extinguished
  • The public has until 18 May to make submissions on Icasa’s regulations for extension of expiry period for data, airtime
  • ANC NEC expected to hold a special meeting on Sunday
  • Eastern Cape flood victims plead for support as access to food, services remains difficult
  • Amathole Regional Secretary elated to have corruption charges against him dropped
  • South Africans no longer required to wear face masks indoors
  • South Africans to brace for another Petrol price hike
  • More COVID-19 restrictions could be lifted including the wearing of masks
  • Video: Illegal immigrants arrested entering SA through fire hydrant at O.R. Tambo airport
  • First case of Monkeypox detected in South Africa
  • Mosimane alleges sabotage from CAF President Patrice Motsepe
  • SANTACO and NTA calls on COSATU to join the national shutdown over the hiking fuel prices
  • 18-year-old Durban woman defrauded of inheritance left by late father
  • NTA yet to decide whether to support calls for national shutdown amid fuel price hikes
  • South Africans no longer required to wear face masks indoors

LATEST

  • South Africa
  • Sci-tech

Western Cape Health announces integration of clinics and healthcare services


Chief Justice Zondo handing over the final state capture report to President Ramaphosa
  • South Africa

State capture report failed to answer important questions, analyst


MM Sebitloane and Resource School
  • South Africa

Former learners with learning disabilities empowered and employed by MM Sebitloane Special school in Taung


  • World

Protestors have the first say as G7 Summit opens in Germany


Ducati's Francesco Bagnaia
  • Sport

Ducati’s Bagnaia secures second straight pole in Assen


The Pumas celebrate their first Currie Cup final and win
  • Sport
  • Rugby

Pumas defy odds to be crowned Currie Cup champions


Weather

  • About the SABC
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs
  • Advertise
  • Disclaimer
  • Site Map

SABC © 2022

No Result
View All Result
  • SOUTH AFRICA
  • POLITICS
  • BUSINESS
  • SPORT
  • AFRICA
  • WORLD
  • SCI-TECH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • FEATURES
  • OPINION

© 2022

Previous Kenyans decry high cost of living as economy registers highest growth in a decade
Next Environmentalists urge African governments to increase climate action, reduce reliance on fossil fuels