The US and other Western countries have objected to a visit by the UN counterterrorism chief to China’s remote Xinjiang region, where UN experts have said that about 1 million ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims are held in detention centers.
UN Counter-Terrorism Office Undersecretary Vladimir Voronkov is in China at the invitation of Beijing and is due to visit Xinjiang’s capital, Urumqi, said an e-mail sent by his office to countries that raised concerns.
Along with the US, several other countries, including Britain, also complained, diplomats said.
US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan on Friday spoke with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “to convey deep concerns” about Voronkov’s trip, because “Beijing continues to paint its repressive campaign against Uighurs and other Muslims as legitimate counterterrorism efforts when it is not.”
“The deputy secretary expressed that such a visit is highly inappropriate in view of the unprecedented repression campaign underway in Xinjiang against Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and other Muslims,” the US Department of State said in a statement.
“The UN’s topmost counterterrorism official is putting at risk the UN’s reputation and credibility on counterterrorism and human rights by lending credence to these false claims,” the statement said.
China has been condemned internationally for setting up the detention complexes, which it describes as “education training centers” helping to stamp out extremism and give people new skills.
Western states are worried Voronkov’s visit will validate China’s justification for the centers, diplomats said.
“China will, and is, actively saying that what they’re doing in Xinjiang is good terrorism prevention,” said a UN Security Council diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“The visit by Voronkov validates their narrative that this is a counterterrorism issue, when we would see it more as a human rights issue,” the diplomat said, adding that if Voronkov did not speak out after visiting Xinjiang then “silence could be seen as implicit acceptance, at worst UN complicity.”
The e-mail from Voronkov’s office said that China planned the itinerary for Voronkov, whose office helps states implement a global counterterrorism strategy adopted by the UN General Assembly.
His office does “not expect any public statements” on his visit to Xinjiang, it added.
The e-mail from Voronkov’s office said that he had already visited Russia, Britain, the US and France which, along with China, make up the five permanent veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council.
Human Rights Watch UN director Louis Charbonneau said that instead of sending Voronkov to Xinjiang, Guterres should “be calling for the immediate closure of ‘political education’ camps” and pushing for unfettered access for UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet and other rights experts.
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