UN rights chief ends disappointing rein for China activists

Record ID: 1687316

  • Title: UN rights chief ends disappointing rein for China activists
  • Date: 31st August 2022
  • Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK UNITED STATES (AUGUST 23, 2022) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, ZEID RA'AD AL-HUSSEIN, SAYING: “My hope is that her successor will be strong, independent-minded, not easily intimidated by anyone.”
  • Embargoed: 14th September 2022 05:01
  • Keywords: Bachelet China High Commissioner for human rights Roth United Nations Zeid activist end human rights watch mandate report
  • Location: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
  • City: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Asia / Pacific,Government/Politics,United Nations
  • Reuters ID: LVA00E156430082022RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Michelle Bachelet, once a political detainee under Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and a doctor who treated tortured children, pledged to be the champion of human rights defenders when she became U.N. High Commissioner in 2018. But four years on, those who have suffered from China's abuses feel let down and are calling for a more outspoken successor.
    "I feel terribly disappointed that our letter (to High Commissioner Bachelet) was totally disregarded and no follow up," said Luo Shengchun, the wife of jailed Chinese rights activist Ding Jiaxi, who wrote to Bachelet seeking his release in May, shortly before her trip to China.
    "I wish for them to replace her with an officer with a more clear position with China. The UN can really do much more. It's not so difficult," she told Reuters in an interview from New York where she moved to prevent Beijing from using her as a means to pressure her husband.
    Luo's comments reflect a widely-held view among civil society groups and Western governments that the former Chilean President was too soft towards governments like China and others at a critical time when freedoms are backsliding around the world.
    They hope her retirement on Aug. 31 will mark a fresh start.
    "We are looking for somebody who is willing to speak out in a principled way, regardless of the perpetrator," said Human Rights Watch head Kenneth Roth.
    He deemed her tenure a "failure", because of an unwillingness to confront Beijing, citing the fact that she has not yet published a report on Uyghurs in Xinjiang whom rights groups say are being subject to torture and mass detention in camps.
    China, which vigorously denies the allegations, asked her to bury the report.
    But Bachelet's defenders say her political skills as Chile's former president won her access, such as the first trip by a high commissioner to China since 2005 and a deal to bring monitors to Venezuela.
    They also point to successes such as her attacks on systemic racism and new environmental rights.
    The battle over Bachelet's legacy encapsulates the political tensions between more liberal and conservative countries over human rights that could arise in the choice of successor, observers told Reuters.
    The process is underway, but a temporary void is all but inevitable.
    Under current rules, it is up to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to make the appointment, ensuring fair regional rotation, which then needs to be confirmed by the General Assembly.
    If a new High Commissioner is named quickly, one of their first challenges will be overseeing the next meeting of the 47-member Geneva-based Human Rights Council starting Sept. 12 which will discuss a probe into possible Ukraine war crimes.
    The Council's decisions are not legally binding but carry political weight and can authorize investigations.
    In recent sessions, there have been hard-fought debates over sexual rights and China's record.
    In a blow to the West, Saudi lobbying let to the closure of a war crimes investigation in Yemen last year.
    For Bachelet's outspoken predecessor, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein from Jordan, there is only one way to do the job.
    "My hope is that her successor will be strong, independent-minded, not easily intimidated by anyone," he told Reuters.
    (Production: Cecile Mantovani)
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