{"id":47599,"date":"2022-02-06T04:23:13","date_gmt":"2022-02-06T04:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=47599"},"modified":"2022-02-06T04:23:13","modified_gmt":"2022-02-06T04:23:13","slug":"guterres-expects-china-to-let-un-rights-chief-visit-xinjiang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=47599","title":{"rendered":"Guterres expects China to let UN rights chief visit Xinjiang"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"\">\n<p class=\"article__subhead css-1wt8oh6\"><em>UN secretary-general tells Chinese leaders they must allow Michelle Bachelet to make a \u2018credible visit\u2019 to the country, including Xinjiang.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div readability=\"103.9637774903\">\n<p>Antonio Guterres, the secretary-general of the United Nations, has told leaders in Beijing that he expects them to allow the UN\u2019s human rights chief to make a \u201ccredible visit\u201d to China, including to Xinjiang.<\/p>\n<p>Guterres met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the Winter Olympic Games on Saturday, according to a UN readout of their talks.<\/p>\n<p>The UN chief \u201cexpressed his expectation that the contacts between the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Chinese authorities will allow for a credible visit of the High Commissioner to China, including Xinjiang,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n<p>The Chinese state news agency Xinhua made no mention of the rights issue in its readout of the meeting.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"770\" height=\"434\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/z9aLNxcokOE?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The UN rights envoy, Michelle Bachelet, has <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2021\/6\/21\/bachelet-seeks-2021-xinjiang-visit-amid-alleged-rights-abuses\">long sought independent access<\/a> to Xinjiang, a region in far western China where authorities are accused of committing widespread human rights abuses against ethnic Uighurs and other Muslim minorities.<\/p>\n<p>Campaigners say <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2021\/6\/10\/china-accused-of-crimes-against-humanity-of-uighurs-in-xinjiang\">the abuses include torture, forced labour and detention of one million people<\/a> in internment camps.<\/p>\n<p>China denies the allegations, claiming the camps are re-education and training facilities set up to combat religious extremism.<\/p>\n<p>The issue has soured relations between Beijing and the West, sparking accusations of \u201cgenocide\u201d from the United States and a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2021\/12\/6\/us-announces-diplomatic-boycott-of-2022-beijing-olympics\">Washington-led diplomatic boycott<\/a> by some countries of the winter games.<\/p>\n<p>China has slammed the boycott, repeatedly exhorting its critics to stop \u201cpoliticising\u201d the Olympic Games.<\/p>\n<p>But at the games\u2019 opening ceremony, China <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2022\/2\/5\/beijing-winter-olympics-china-uighur-torchbearer\">chose a young Uighur athlete<\/a>, 20-year-old cross-country skier Dinigeer Yilamujiang, as one of the final Olympic torch-bearers \u2013 a move some analysts said had clear political overtones.<\/p>\n<p>Bachelet\u2019s office in Geneva said last month that conversations were underway for a possible trip to Xinjiang in the first half of the year.<\/p>\n<p>Hong Kong\u2019s South China Morning Post newspaper reported last month that Beijing had relented and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2022\/1\/28\/un-rights-chief-allowed-to-visit-xinjiang-after-olympics-report\">agreed to Bachelet\u2019s visit<\/a> on the condition the trip should be \u201cfriendly\u201d and not framed as an investigation.<\/p>\n<p>It also said that Beijing is also understood \u201cto have pressed for a delay\u201d in the release of a long-awaited report on human rights in Xinjiang until the games had wrapped up.<\/p>\n<p>Activists had been waiting for the report eagerly, and pressure had mounted for its release before the Beijing Games, but the UN said late last month it would not be forthcoming before the games.<\/p>\n<p>At Saturday\u2019s meeting with Xi, Guterres \u201cexpressed the wish for enhanced cooperation between the United Nations and the People\u2019s Republic of China in all the pillars of the Organization\u2019s work \u2013 peace and security, sustainable development, including climate change and biodiversity, and human rights,\u201d according to the UN.<\/p>\n<p>On climate change, the UN chief \u201crecognised the important efforts China is making to address climate change but reiterated the appeal for additional efforts to accelerate the transition to the green economy to bridge the emissions gap\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UN secretary-general tells Chinese leaders they must allow Michelle Bachelet to make a \u2018credible visit\u2019 to the country, including Xinjiang.Antonio Guterres, the secretary-general of the United Nations, has told leaders in Beijing that he expects them to allow the UN\u2019s human rights chief to make a \u201ccredible visit\u201d to China, including to Xinjiang. Guterres met&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spotlight_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47599\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}