Criticised over China stance, UNHRC chief refuses 2nd term
Agence France-presse
GENEVA: UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet said on Monday she will not seek a second term, ending months of speculation amid growing criticism of her lax stance on rights abuses in China. “As my term as high commissioner draws to a close, this council’s milestone 50th session will be the last which I brief,” Bachelet told the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) as it opened a fourweek sitting.
She provided no explanation for her decision. The 70-yearold former Chilean president, who will wrap up her four-year mandate at the end of August, had until now remained mum about whether she would seek to stay on for a second term.
Discrete diplomacy
Bachelet has faced mounting criticism from countries and NGOS for not speaking out more forcefully against allegations of widespread rights abuses in some countries, most notably in China.
When she was appointed in 2018 by UN secretary-general
Antonio Guterres, it was clear she was meant to mark a break with the repeated declarations of outrage by her very outspoken predecessor Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein of Jordan.
Bachelet, who went from torture victim under Augusto Pinochet to become the first woman to serve as president of Chile, has instead emphasised the importance of dialogue and discrete diplomacy in forwarding rights in various countries.
This approach has not sat well with some and she has faced significant pushback over her restraint, especially when it comes to China. She did take a long-awaited trip to the country last month - the first in 17 years by a UN rights chief.
The trip took her to the farwestern Xinjiang region, where China is alleged to have detained over a million Uighurs and other Muslim minorities, as well as carried out forced sterilisation of women and coerced labour.
The United States has labelled China’s actions in Xinjiang a “genocide” and “crimes against humanity”, allegations vehemently denied by Beijing which says its security crackdown in the region was a necessary response to extremism.
Bachelet, who has faced harsh criticism for so far failing to release a report on the rights situation in Xinjiang, said the report was now “being updated”. “It will be shared with the government for factual comments before publication.”
At the same time, she hailed the opening of dialogue with China, saying there was now an agreement to “hold an annual senior meeting on human rights” and to continue exchanges on “specific human rights issues of concern”.
RAHUL ED