UN to publish Xinjiang findings soon

The United Nations' human rights office is finalising its assessment of the situation in China's Xinjiang region, where it has allegations that people have been unlawfully detained, mistreated and forced to work, a spokesperson said on Friday.

Rupert Colville said that the office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet hoped to publish its report in coming weeks and that there had been no progress in talks with Chinese officials regarding her visit.

Earlier, an unofficial British-based tribunal of lawyers and campaigners said Chinese President Xi Jinping bore primary responsibility for what it said was genocide, crimes against humanity and torture of Uyghurs and members of other minorities in the Xinjiang region.

Colville said those "deeply disturbing" findings were still being analysed, adding: "But we have of course similarly identified patterns of arbitrary detention and ill-treatment in institutions, coercive labour practices and erosion of social and cultural rights in general."

There was no immediate reaction from China, which has in the past said Western powers were seeking to denigrate its reputation by inventing and exaggerating problems in Xinjiang.