Uighurs urged UN human rights officer Michelle Bachelet not to fall victim to public relations stunts as a trip to China entered a subtle new phase on Tuesday with a visit to the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.
The ruling Communist Party has been accused of detaining more than a million Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in the Far West as part of a long-standing crackdown on security that the United States has dubbed “genocide.”
China has violently denied that claim and called it a “lie of the century.”
Bashle will visit Urumqi and Kashgar in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Tuesdays and Wednesdays as part of a six-day tour.
“I hope she can ask the Chinese government where my mother is,” said Jeblanc Silemet, adding that she couldn’t contact her for four years.