The outgoing United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights hinted Thursday that her office may not live up to its promise to release its long-awaited report on China’s Xinjiang region by the end of her term next week.
Speaking to reporters, Michelle Bachelet said her office was “trying” to meet the deadline she herself set in June, shortly after announcing that she would not seek a new four-year term after the current term expires on August 31.
The office of the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has not indicated her prospective successor.
Prolonged delays in issuing the report on Xinjiang cast a shadow over the final months of Bachelet’s mandate, which many diplomats in Geneva believe was “almost completed a year ago,” according to the Associated Press.
Bachelet said that her office informed China of the “report findings” as is the norm when the UN human rights office reports on countries, and officials returned a “large” number of comments.
She said her office is only focusing on possible factual errors right now, according to the agency.
Independent human rights groups have denounced the detention centers for “Uyghurs and other minorities”, which Beijing describes as professional.
While some countries, including the United States, accused China of committing genocide in Xinjiang.
Earlier, leaked documents attributed to the Chinese police, including thousands of photos of detainees, including women, minors and the elderly, shed light on the situation of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang.
These documents were published by a group of 14 international media, including the newspaper “”Lomond“French, BBC”BBC“.
Uighurs make up about most of Xinjiang’s 26 million people, according to AFP.
In a speech in 2017, the region’s governor, Chen Guangwu, ordered guards to shoot people trying to escape and to “closely monitor the faithful.”
Bachelet insisted that she raised concerns with the Chinese authorities about conditions of detention and “ill-treatment” of people at home when she visited China and Xinjiang in May, a visit that required a long period of preparation and included a virtual meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Bachelet said her office received “enormous numbers” of letters, starting a year ago, requesting publication of the Xinjiang report, according to the Associated Press.
And in recent months, it has received a letter from about 40 countries, including China, “requesting that the report not be published,” according to the Associated Press.
“We are always under pressure, from all sides,” Bachelet said, stressing that she is not seeking a new term for personal reasons and a desire to return home to Chile, where she served two terms as president, according to the agency.