U.S. tells China to give UN access to Xinjiang to probe Uyghur treatment

The United States called on China on Wednesday to ensure that a planned visit by U.N. human rights chief Michele Bachelet includes "unhindered and unsupervised access" to all areas of the Xinjiang region to investigate treatment of Muslim Uyghurs.

Bachelet announced on Tuesday that she had reached an agreement with China for a long-sought visit, foreseen in May, including a stop in Xinjiang.

Sheba Crocker, U.S. ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, said in a statement that for a credible visit, Bachelet must be able to hold private meetings with a range of Uyghurs and groups in Xinjiang, and have access to places where forced labour has been reported.

"Any access limitations imposed on the High Commissioner or her Office, or interference with their activities or reporting, would severely undermine the credibility of her visit and support the propaganda that denies the abuses occurring in Xinjiang," she said.

Activists say some 1 million Uyghurs have been held in mass detention in the remote western region.

China rejects accusations of abuse, describing the camps as vocational centres designed to combat extremism, and in late 2019 it said all people in the camps had "graduated".

Crocker also urged Bachelet to release "the existing, long-anticipated" report by her office on alleged violations in Xinjiang without further delay.

Bachelet, in her speech to the U.N. Human Rights Council on Tuesday, made no reference to the report, for which her office began gathering evidence and testimony in late 2018.