Activists warn the upcoming visit risks aiding Beijing’s attempts to whitewash repression against Tibetans, Uyghurs, Hongkongers, Southern Mongolians, and others
We, a coalition of over 220 Tibetan, Uyghur, Hongkonger, Southern Mongolian, and Chinese democracy groups, are demanding the High Commissioner reverse her current plan to visit China or risk walking into a propaganda minefield laid out by the Chinese Communist Party.
Reports suggest that the UN High Commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, is due to visit China in less than two weeks and that her advance team arrived in China on 25 April.
To date, she has not met with any of the affected communities despite multiple requests and the overwhelming evidence of genocide and rampant human rights abuses (including widespread torture and sexual abuse) nor has she met with wider civil society organisations for specific briefings on Beijing’s crackdown.
Ms. Bachelet has also ignored all offers to meet with survivors from the Uyghur camps, Tibetan former political prisoners, or Chinese democracy activists linked to the Tiananmen Square Massacre. She has simultaneously remained silent on the unprecedented statement by over 50 UN experts calling for “urgent” and “decisive measures” to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of those living under Chinese rule.
During her time in office, the current High Commissioner has failed to raise any concern about the situation in occupied Tibet, which has not been mentioned as a visit location, despite being ranked as the least free place in the world for the second year in a row. Hong Kong and Southern Mongolia are also missing from her list of visit locations though both places have witnessed historic protests and subsequent crackdowns on human rights and freedom in the past two years.
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