This visit was not an investigation – official visits by a High Commissioner are by their nature high-profile and simply not conducive to the kind of detailed, methodical, discreet work of an investigative nature.
I should state from the outset what this visit was – and what it wasn’t. My visit has also been informed by the work of the UN human rights mechanisms on China over many years, and the preparatory work done by my office and my advance team that arrived in China on 25 April. In advance of my visit, my Office and I met virtually with a number of civil society organisations that are working on issues relating to Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong and other parts of China. In addition, I was able to interact with civil society organisations, academics, and community and religious leaders and others inside and outside the country. I visited Kashgar prison and the Kashgar Experimental School, a former Vocational Education and Training Centre (VETC), among other places. During my two days in Kashgar and Urumqi, I met with a range of officials, including the Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), the Governor and the Vice-Governor in charge of public security, among others. I also met with the All China Women’s Federation. I was also able to meet with State Councilor Wang Yi, the Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court, and with senior officials on public security, justice, ethnic affairs and human resources, the State Procuratorate, and the Governor of Guangdong Province. I appreciate the Government’s efforts in making this visit happen, particularly the arrangements for my virtual meeting with President Xi Jinping. For the first time in 17 years, a UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has been able to travel to China and speak directly with the most senior Government officials in the country, and other interlocutors on key human rights issues, in China and globally. Let me start by thanking the Government of China for its invitation. But I hope this means that those of you who may otherwise not have been able to travel here from different parts of China have been able to join. This press conference has to be virtual, given the COVID-19 restrictions in place.
Good evening and thank you all for joining me here today.
0 kommentar(er)
