Asia Re-education centers in Xinjiang to “love China” Asia Michelle Bachelet’s controversial tour to the Chinese region of Xinjiang China, under the pretext of ending terrorism and religious extremism after two decades of attacks, has committed serious violations of human rights against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its northwestern region of Xinjiang, which may constitute a crime against humanity. That is the conclusion reached by a long-awaited UN report whose publication has been delayed for months due to pressure from Beijing. Just 11 minutes before midnight, just before the term of Michelle Bachelet, High Commissioner for the United Nations for Human Rights, the international organization released a 45-page report detailing Beijing’s repression in Xinjiang. “The extent of the arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uighurs and other predominantly Muslim groups, in law and politics, in the context of more general restrictions and deprivations of fundamental rights enjoyed individually and collectively, may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity,” reads the final assessment led by Bachelet. The report reiterates that in Xinjiang, between 2017 and 2019, there were “arbitrary arrests and related patterns of abuse” within what China calls ma “vocational education and training centers”, which for human rights organizations are internment centers where more than a million Uyghurs would have ended up against their will. The UN says it has found evidence of torture in detention camps, links employment policies to forced labor and points to “coercive government actions” that led to a sharply falling birth rate in the region. “There was a sharp decline in birth rates in Xinjiang since 2017, with a drop of 48.7% between 2017 and 2019. During the same period, there was an unusually strong increase in sterilizations and the placement of intrauterine devices, “says the report. Bachelet notes that the average sterilization rate per 100,000 people in China as a whole was just over 32. In the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region it was 243. “There are accounts of physical and psychological torture.” They support the interviews carried out with 40 people of the Uyghur, Kazakh and Kyrgyz ethnic groups. Twenty-six of those interviewed stated that they had passed through the detention centers. “Detainees were not allowed to speak their own languages or pray. There are accounts of physical and psychological torture in the facility, including beatings with electric batons, interrogations while water was poured on detainees’ faces, constant hunger leading to a severe weight loss, sleep deprivation, invasive group gynecological exams, and rape,” the report said. measures to combat terrorism and extremism in accordance with the law, effectively curbing the frequent occurrences of terrorist activities At present, Xinjiang enjoys social stability, economic development, cultural prosperity and religious harmony People of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang live a happy and peaceful life.” From Peking they reject all accusations of human rights violations and say that the report is “a farce planned by the United States and Western countries,” that it is based on “misinformation and lies fabricated by anti-China forces,” and that it “undermines the credibility” of Bachelet’s office, who has been fired In early February, a day after the opening of the Beijing Winter Games, President Xi Jinping met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. who asked the Chinese leader to allow a delegation from the international organization to travel to the Xinjiang region to carry out a kind of human rights inspection. Xi accepted the proposal. However, at the end of the meeting, Chinese officials transferred to their UN colleagues an essential condition for this trip to take place: a report that was about to be published on the abuses of the Uighurs in Xinjiang must not see the light of day. At least not at that time. Three months after the meeting between Xi and Guterres, High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet traveled to Xinjiang, that vast territory of deserts and mountains, four times larger than Spain, under constant international scrutiny. The six-day tour of the former president of Chile, long considered a candidate to be the first woman to head the UN, ended with a bland press conference in which she barely dared to criticize the atrocities of the Chinese regime beyond to urge Peking to “avoid arbitrary measures in the anti-terrorist campaign in the region.” Human rights organizations accused the Chilean of allowing herself to be used by China to whitewash the abuses against ethnic minorities in the country. The high commissioner’s visit also coincided with the publication of a major data leak from Xinjiang’s security apparatus, including mug shots of thousands of detained Uyghurs and internal documents outlining policies such as shooting anyone who tried to escape. of international media had access to some documents that tested a new proof of the existence of the internment camps. Centers with barbed wire, watchtowers, armed police guarding patios and corridors. The accusations of Uyghurs who were detained in the centers and the journalistic investigations, as well as internal leaks from the Chinese government and the Xinjiang police, go much further: forced labor, destruction of mosques, forced sterilizations and torture, draconian surveillance and persecution. police. Bachelet decides to speak After her visit to Xinjiang, Bachelet kept silent until a couple of weeks ago, when she acknowledged that there was pressure from Beijing not to publish the expected investigation on the Uyghurs in China. Reuters revealed that the authorities of the Asian country had sent a letter to the organization’s headquarters in Geneva expressing “serious concern” about the report on Xinjiang. “The evaluation, if published, will intensify the politicization and confrontation of blocks in the area.” of human rights, undermine the credibility of the OHCHR (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights) and harm cooperation between the OHCHR and member states,” the letter said, referring to Bachelet’s office. “We strongly urge the High Commissioner not to publish such an evaluation.” Finally, rushing her last minutes as head of human rights, Bachelet launched the harshest report against China that has been published under the seal of the UN: “The The policies and practices described in Xinjiang have transcended borders, separating families and severing human contacts, while causing particular suffering to affected Uyghur, Kazakh and other predominantly Muslim minority families, exacerbated by patterns of intimidation and threats against members of their groups. the diaspora community, who speak publicly about experiences in Xinjiang.” According to The Trust Project criteria Learn More