AMN/ WEB DESK
United Nations Human Rights Chief Michelle Bachelet has said that China is restricting basic civil and political freedoms in the name of national security and COVID-19 measures.
Bachelet told the Human Rights Council that activists, lawyers and human rights defenders as well as some foreign nationals face arbitrary criminal charges, detention or unfair trials in China.
Referring to China’s Xinjiang region, Bachelet cited the reports about arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, sexual violence and forced labour.
She added that there was a need for a thorough and independent assessment of the situation. Bachelet said, she hoped to clinch agreement with Chinese officials about a visit to the country.
Activists and U.N. experts have said that at least one million Muslim Uighurs are detained in camps in the western region of Xinjiang.