Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, recently met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Foreign Minister Wang Yi during which, according to his spokesperson, he shared his expectation of a “credible” visit of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, to China, including to the Uyghur Region.
Bachelet has indeed been calling for a visit for a long time to investigate “reports of serious human rights violations.” The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly said that it would welcome Bachelet but in practice has failed to coordinate with her office to iron out a concrete timeline.
Diplomatic and activist boycotts of the Winter Olympics over human rights violations have caused the Chinese government to condemn “politicizing” of the Games but has also been emphasized the Secretary General’s support of the Games. The government also chose a young Uyghur skier to be one of the final Olympic torch-bearers.
Activists have been calling for the investigative report ahead of the games to no avail. Many, including Freedom United, have requested the International Olympics Committee (IOC) share their human rights due diligence plans ahead of the games without success. Though there was no visit or report, Guterres still attended the opening of the games. Similarly, the IOC sidestepped all conversations about human rights.
While the UN is delayed, the International Labour Organization (ILO), released its annual report on global applications of international labor standards. In the report, the ILO Committee of Experts found that “the employment situation of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in China provides numerous indications of coercive measures many of which arise from regulatory and policy documents.”
Freedom United supported the call for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to investigate the situation on the ground and hopes that this can be done as soon as possible. However, given the ongoing delay, it said that it will continue to prioritize calling on the Chinese government to take action.
