Tag: Bachelet, Michelle

Volker Türk, an Austrian Diplomat, Takes U.N. Human Rights Post

Chin@Strategy

GENEVA — A week after Michelle Bachelet stepped down as the United Nations’ high commissioner for human rights, the U.N. has approved Volker Türk, an Austrian who is a trusted adviser to the secretary general, to take on the notoriously challenging job. The secretary general, António Guterres, forwarded the name of Mr. Türk late on Wednesday to the U.N. General Assembly, which approved the appointment without a vote on Thursday. Mr. Türk, 57, is not widely known outside the United Nations, but he was seen as the front-runner in a…

For Uyghurs, U.N. Report on China’s Abuses Is Long-Awaited Vindication

Chin@Strategy

HONG KONG — At first China said there was “no such thing” as re-education centers that held vast numbers of people in its far western Xinjiang region. Then, as more reports emerged that hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs and members of other largely Muslim groups were being detained, Beijing acknowledged the camps’ existence but described them as vocational training centers. When overseas Uyghurs spoke out about the authorities’ abuses in Xinjiang, China targeted their families back home, sentencing their relatives to long prison terms and using the full weight of…

U.N. Report on Xinjiang Human Rights May Be Delayed Again

Chin@Strategy

GENEVA — The United Nations top human rights official, Michelle Bachelet, has signaled that she might not release a long-awaited report about allegations of abuses in China’s far western region of Xinjiang before she leaves office next week, as she had promised. The delay of that report, which Beijing has worked to block, has already exposed her to fierce criticism from human rights groups. Four years after academics, activists and independent U.N. experts first sounded the alarm over reports that China had arbitrarily detained more than a million Uyghurs and…

Your Monday Briefing: A ‘Toothless’ Trip to Xinjiang

Chin@Strategy

Good morning. We’re covering the U.N. human rights chief’s trip to China, India’s expanded protections for sex workers and Ukraine’s offensive in Kherson. U.N.’s tempered criticism of China The United Nations’ top human rights official spent six days in China, offering only limited criticism of China’s crackdown on predominantly Muslim minorities. Michelle Bachelet said that her visit “was not an investigation,” and that she had raised questions about China’s application of “counterterrorism and de-radicalization measures” when she spoke by video with Xi Jinping, China’s leader. In so doing, Bachelet couched…

China Spins U.N. Human Rights Chief’s Visit as Propaganda

Chin@Strategy

The news was given prime placement in Chinese state media: The United Nations’ human rights chief, on her long-awaited visit to the country, had spoken with China’s leader, Xi Jinping. An article plastered across the website of Xinhua, the state news agency, relayed Mr. Xi’s declaration that the Chinese people were enjoying “unprecedented” rights. Then the article quoted the U.N. official, Michelle Bachelet. “I admire China’s efforts and achievements in eradicating poverty, protecting human rights and realizing economic and social development,” she said, according to Xinhua. But within hours, Ms.…

U.N. Human Rights Chief to Make First Trip to China Since 2005

Chin@Strategy

GENEVA — Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations’ top human rights official, will next week visit China, including its troubled western region of Xinjiang, on a trip that rights activists say holds significant risks for the credibility of her office. The trip by Ms. Bachelet will be the first official visit to China by a U.N. high commissioner for human rights since 2005, after years of discussions with Beijing to arrange it. But only sketchy details have emerged about what she will do and hopes to achieve in China, which has…

U.N. Human Rights Chief to Visit China

Chin@Strategy

GENEVA — The United Nations’ top human rights official said on Tuesday that China would allow her to visit the country and examine conditions there, including in the Xinjiang region, a startling twist after years of negotiations and stonewalling by Beijing. If the visit goes ahead in May as expected, the official, Michelle Bachelet, will be the first United Nations high commissioner for human rights in 22 years to visit China, which has faced repeated criticism for its human rights policies. The visit is not without risk for the high…