The United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet, who has come under stinging criticism for a recent trip to China, says she won't seek a new four-year term when her current stint ends on August 31.
"As my term as high commissioner draws to a close, this council's milestone 50th session will be the last which I brief," she said in a speech to the UN Human Rights Council as it opened a four-week session on June 13.
She did not elaborate on the comment.
Earlier this month, dozens of rights groups called for her resignation, charging that she "whitewashed" Beijing's "atrocities" during her trip to China, while the European Parliament approved a resolution criticizing Bachelet saying she "failed to clearly hold the Chinese government accountable for human rights abuses against the Uyghurs during her visit."
As many as 2 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and members of Xinjiang's other indigenous ethnic groups have been taken to detention centers in the western Chinese region, according to the U.S. State Department.
China denies that the facilities are internment camps. but people who have fled the province say thousands are undergoing political indoctrination at a network of facilities known officially as reeducation camps.
UN Human Rights Chief Bachelet Says She Won't Seek A New Term Following Rebuke Over China Trip
- By RFE/RL
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