On August 31, 2022, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights announced that it would publish its report on China after all, despite protests from the Chinese representation to the United Nations.
On August 31, 2022, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights announced that it would publish its report on China after all, despite protests from the Chinese representation to the United Nations. The report was ultimately published minutes before the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, concluded her mandate. The report finds that Uyghurs may have been subjected to international crimes, and in particular, crimes against humanity.
The announcement comes a year after in September 2021, Michelle Bachelet said at the opening of the U.N. Human Rights Council that her Office was “finalizing its assessment of the available information on allegations of serious human rights violations in that region, with a view to making it public.”
The publication of the report also comes several months after the U.N. visit to China. This first visit to China since 2005 has been highly choreographed and nothing of the “unfettered access” the U.N. has been requesting. The U.N. visit was agreed in response to reports of severe human rights violations in Xinjiang, China, and especially, atrocities against the Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities. The U.N. visit commenced mid-May 2022, with little being known of the scope of the inquiry, the powers of the investigative team, and terms of reference, among others. On May 28, 2022, upon the conclusion of her visit, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet stated that it was not an investigation into China’s human rights policies.
