Contemporary slavery extensive around globe – UN investigator
United NationsAP A UN investigator says contemporary forms of slavery are widely practiced around the world, including forced labour for China’s Uyghur minority, bonded labour for the lowest caste Dalits in South Asia, and domestic servitude in Gulf countries, Brazil and Colombia. Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur Tomoya Obokata adds that traditional enslavement, especially of […]
US places Russia on human trafficking, child soldier lists
Washington DC, USReuters The United States on Tuesday placed Russia on lists of countries engaged in a “policy or pattern” of human trafficking and forced labor or whose security forces or government-backed armed groups recruit or use child soldiers. The State Department included the lists in its annual human trafficking report, which for the first […]
Allies seek to follow US lead on Xinjiang forced labour ban – US official
Washington DC, USReuters US allies appear committed to following Washington’s lead banning forced labour goods from China’s Xinjiang region, a senior US official told Reuters on Monday, warning companies they could not maintain “deliberate ignorance” about their supply chains. The United States’ Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) took effect last month to cut US imports […]
UN human rights chief asks China to rethink Uyghur policies
Beijing, ChinaAP The top UN human rights official said Saturday that she raised concerns with Chinese officials about the impact of the broad application of counterterrorism and deradicalisation measures on the rights of Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim groups in China’s Xinjiang region. Michelle Bachelet, who visited the north-western region as part of a six-day trip […]
China claims sabotage as UN rights official visits Xinjiang
Beijing, China AP China on Tuesday said the US, Britain and other foreign powers are seeking to sabotage its foreign relations by orchestrating criticism surrounding a trip by the top United Nations official for human rights. China has long held back the fact-finding mission led by Michelle Bachelet, focused on allegations of mass confinement, forced […]
Wang meets top UN rights official as she opens Xinjiang trip
Beijing, China AP China’s foreign minister met with the UN’s top human rights official on her visit to the country and shared with her that China opposes “politicising” human rights and imposing double standards, its foreign ministry said. Foreign Minister Wang Yi met Michelle Bachelet in the southern city of Guangzhou on Monday as she […]
UN Human Rights chief due to arrive in China for historic visit
Beijing, China/Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet begins a visit to China on Monday, the first trip by a holder of the office since 2005 amid concerns that it could lead to an endorsement rather than scrutiny of China’s rights record. During the six-day trip, Bachelet will visit Xinjiang, […]
The Long Read: Uyghur county in China has highest prison rate in the world
HUIZHONG WU and DAKE KANG, of Associated Press, report on what a data leak has revealed about the imprisonment of Uyghurs in China…
US tells China: Give UN rights chief wide access in Xinjiang
Geneva, Switzerland AP The United States called on China’s government Wednesday to grant “unhindered and unsupervised access” to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, when she visits China and its western Xinjiang region in May. Ambassador Sheba Crocker, the US permanent representative to UN institutions in Geneva, said any interference in the […]
Activists urge UN rights chief to release delayed report on Xinjiang
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters Now that the Beijing Winter Olympics is over, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet must release her long-delayed report on alleged violations in China’s Xinjiang region against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet attends a session of the Human Rights Council […]