"Now there's not much visible evidence of repression," said Peter Irwin of the Uyghur Human Rights Project. "We fear the visit will be manipulated by the Chinese government to whitewash the severe abuses in Xinjiang," said Maya Wang, senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch. Campaigners have questioned why Bachelet — a former president of Chile and a torture survivor — has not been more outspoken about Xinjiang. Hundreds of overseas Uyghurs and Kazakhs — another Muslim minority in Xinjiang — have staged rallies in recent weeks to urge Bachelet to visit detained relatives. "The UN must raise the concerns of relatives of Uyghur concentration camp victims in meetings with high-level Chinese officials," he told Agence France-Presse from Istanbul.

Source: Manila Times May 22, 2022 20:51 UTC