Human rights are not an internal matter for individual states, and national borders do not constitute a wall behind which human rights no longer apply. That also goes for human rights in China. That is why, during the video conference with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi last week, Foreign Minister Baerbock called for a transparent investigation of the grave allegations of very serious human rights violations in Xinjiang.

The visit by Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, to China – which we had worked for a long time to bring about – failed to achieve what we had hoped. Due to the restrictions imposed by the Chinese side, free, unhindered access to persons and places was not possible during the trip. An independent assessment of the situation on the ground could therefore not be carried out.

We still expect the High Commissioner to publish the announced report on the human rights situation in Xinjiang – including the findings from the remote monitoring – as soon as possible.