UK slams China for failure to grant UN official unfettered access to Xinjiang

The Chinese authorities did not provide unfettered access to Xinjiang during UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet's 6-day official visit, said the United Kingdom government on Monday, adding that its failure to grant such access only serves to highlight their determination to hide the truth.

This comes as the rights group have expressed serious disappointment in the outcomes of Bachelet's visit to China, including a trip to Xinjiang.

As many had feared, this visit has turned out to be a "propaganda opportunity" for China to whitewash its crimes against humanity and genocide against the Uyghur people.

"It is clear that the Chinese authorities did not provide the full, unfettered access to Xinjiang for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights that we and our international partners have long called for. China's failure to grant such access only serves to highlight their determination to hide the truth," the UK government said in a statement on China's human rights violations in Xinjiang, following a visit to the region by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

"We will continue to act with our international partners to increase the pressure on China to immediately cease its appalling human rights violations in Xinjiang, and release those unjustly detained," the statement added.

This statement comes in the backdrop of the UN visit to China that rights experts allege was not a "complete and independent assessment of the human rights environment" in the country, including in Xinjiang, where "genocide and crimes against humanity are ongoing".

Dolkun Isa, President of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), said the High Commissioner has wasted a historic opportunity to investigate the Uyghur genocide and deliver justice to the Uyghur people.

"The High Commissioner has ruined her office's credibility by aligning with China's wishes and conducting a visit that by no means adequately addressed justice for Uyghurs and accountability for those responsible".

( With inputs from ANI )

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