OHCHR assessment report on Xinjiang region has no credible basis: China
The so-called assessment report on China’s Xinjiang region, which was released by the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR), was mulled since 2019 without taking Chinese government’s advice or getting authorization from the UN Human Rights Council or having credible basis, the Global Times has learned from related sources.
In response to the “assessment of human rights concerns” in China’s Xinjiang region released by the OHCHR on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a press conference on Thursday that the “assessment” was orchestrated and produced by the US and some Western forces and was a patchwork of disinformation that serves as a political tool for the US and some Western forces to strategically use Xinjiang-related issues to contain China.
“The Global Times has exclusively learned from the sources that the US and some Western forces have firmly seized many important positions in the OHCHR and planted many individuals full of ideological bias to take these positions. Moreover, together with anti-China nongovernmental organizations, they had hyped High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet’s visit to China – from urging her to come to China to criticizing her for going to China and even asking and pressuring her to resign after she had finished the China visit. They also pressured the OHCHR to immediately release “report” on China’s Xinjiang region.” The Spokesperson said.
“Where does the “report” come from? Why does the Chinese Foreign Ministry call it “a patchwork of disinformation?” The Global Times learned that the OHCHR made the “report” based on overseas anti-China forces’ political needs, and it did not ask for the Chinese government’s advice and was not authorized by the UN Human Rights Council,” the Statement by the Chinese Government said.
“Experts on international human rights affairs pointed out that the OHCHR is a department of the UN Secretariat that should work to offer assistance and help to the UN Human Rights Council, including fulfilling its responsibilities in accordance with related UN resolutions and under the authority of the UN Human Rights Council.”
“As a department of the UN human rights body, OHCHR should abide by the UN Charter and universal, objective, non-political principles to promote international exchanges on human rights development and constructive dialogues among member states. It should not interfere with the internal affairs of state members.”
However, the “report” made by the OHCHR on China’s Xinjiang region is a “product with no factual basis, no authority and no credibility, analysts said.
Foreign media reports said the OHCHR has been preparing the “report” on Xinjiang since 2019, which analysts said showed that the “report” was not based on High Commissioner Bachelet’s visit to the Xinjiang region in May.
“The OHCHR should immediately conduct serious investigation and release report on these serious human rights violations conducted by the US and the West so as to give an explanation to the international community and to the victims,” the experts added.