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	Disinformation, fake news on social media during elections undermines Democracy by Global Witness, France 24, agencies   Sep. 2022   The scourge of fake news in Brazil’s presidential election. (France 24)   Just a few weeks ahead of the presidential elections, authorities in Brazil are trying to limit the flood of disinformation circulating online. Although the country is better prepared to deal with fake news than it was during the 2018 campaign, which saw Jair Bolsonaro win the presidency, certain types of content and platforms continue to evade control.   Supporters of President Jair Bolsonaro turned out in large numbers on September 7 to mark the bicentennial anniversary of Brazil’s independence from Portugal. On Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, a sea of individuals clad in green and yellow clutched smartphones as they frantically took, shared and reposted photographs.   Sonia, a 50-year-old from Rio, is one of them. “I share everything I receive, with WhatsApp groups it’s instant,” she says, typing furiously. She has already sent the day’s videos and photos to all her contacts, even though she only knows a fraction of them personally.   These messaging groups are the primary vehicle for fake news in Brazil and consist of an endless flow of menacing messages written in all-caps. “Urgent, Lula is planning Bolsonaro's assassination,” reads one. “A pro-Lula enthusiast criticises Brazil's flag,” says another. Fake polls predicting Bolsonaro’s victory circulate widely: “These voting intentions are updated every four hours. To guarantee a non-fraudulent vote, share this with five friends!”   Since 2018, social media has been Bolsonaro’s favourite means of communicating with his support base, while traditional media is portrayed as an enemy that must be defeated. “Journalists are all corrupt, they’re Leninists, Trotskyists,” say some of the president’s supporters in Copacabana.   A huge banner has been hoisted above the beachside promenade. “The real press,” read the words emblazoned above headshots of pro-Bolsonaro bloggers and influencers. Some of them have over one million followers on social media and readily use their online platform to attack journalists from Brazil’s mainstream media. “You’re an embarrassment to the country,” is a recurrent slur.   Brazil is the second-largest market in the world for WhatsApp, behind India – and the app is one of the main channels for receiving fake news. Six out of every 10 Brazilians use the messaging app daily. A 2019 study commissioned by the Brazilian Congress found that 79 percent of Brazilians get their news primarily from WhatsApp.   Bolsonaro successfully exploited this during his 2018 campaign. A former paratrooper, he was on the political fringes at the time, a member of a small party with little influence and few resources – so he bet everything on instant messaging services. Photos, memes, video clips, all shared through millions of messages on WhatsApp, served as his campaign ads.   A year after Bolsonaro’s victory, WhatsApp – which belongs to Facebook’s parent company Meta – conceded that some companies had violated the messaging platform’s terms of services and used fake numbers to mass message political content. Following a backlash, WhatsApp set limits on how many times a message can be forwarded and caps on the number of participants in a group.   Despite this, the messaging app continues to play an important role in Brazilian politics – and has fundamentally changed how election campaigns are run in the country. As the first round of the presidential election approaches, more and more disinformation is spreading. “The amount of fake news circulating is so prevalent and concerning, it’s hard to quantify,” says Fernanda Bruno, a professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and coordinator of MediaLab UFRJ.   A Poynter Institute study found that four out of 10 Brazilians receive disinformation daily, and that some topics crop up again and again. One of the most widely spread pieces of fake news questions the Superior Electoral Court's role and the reliability of Brazil’s electronic ballot boxes.   “This questioning of the reliability of the electoral process is similar to the 2020 election campaign in the United States,” says Bruno, who is an expert on the effects of social media. “Several studies see similarities between the disinformation strategies used in the United States and Brazil.”   In Brazil, a federal police investigation suggests that the president’s family itself is behind this disinformation strategy. In 2020, the investigation uncovered the existence of a “hate bureau”, supposedly run by Bolsonaro’s politician sons. Its objective is allegedly to spread fake news and attack the traditional media and journalists.Bolsonaro’s sons have always denied the existence of such a bureau. However, they regularly share fake news on their personal Instagram accounts..   http://www.france24.com/en/americas/20220918-the-scourge-of-fake-news-in-brazil-s-presidential-elections   Aug. 2022   Digital Threats. (Global Witness)   Brazilians take to the polls on Sunday 2 October 2022 to elect their President – the first general election since Jair Bolsonaro has taken power.   The choices of the world's major tech companies have had a big impact online before and after high-stakes elections around the world, and all eyes are on Brazil this year. Disinformation featured heavily in its 2018 election, and this year’s election is already marred by reports of widespread disinformation, spread from the very top: Bolsonaro is already seeding doubt about the legitimacy of the election result, leading to fears of a United States-inspired January 6 “stop the steal” style coup attempt.   And up for election this year is the climate. Bolsonaro’s record on climate has been described as inadequate and his climate commitments as “lip service”. There is very little transparency into just how much social media platforms are fuelling the disinformation problem in Brazil, but what researchers have been able to identify is that social media ‘filter bubbles’ are fuelling climate denial messaging and hate towards climate activists – while also pushing messages that undermine Brazilians’ trust in its democratic systems.   Online election disinformation in Brazil   Disinformation in high-stakes elections, particularly on social media, has been highlighted with examples stemming from 2016’s Brexit referendum and the 2016 US election through to today. In Brazil’s 2018 elections, the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) – Brazil’s highest election authority – became the target of disinformation campaigns that aimed to undermine confidence in its electronic voting system (a system that has been in place since 1996). Since then, there have been ongoing campaigns attempting to delegitimise the electoral process in Brazil..   http://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/digital-threats/facebook-fails-tackle-election-disinformation-ads-ahead-tense-brazilian-election/   Ahead of elections in Kenya which are expected to be tightly contested and bitterly fought, we decided to test Facebook’s ability to detect and remove violent and hateful language from its platform. Unsurprisingly, Facebook failed miserably.   In partnership with legal non-profit Foxglove, we submitted 10 real-life hate speech examples as test adverts, in Kenya’s two main languages English and Swahili. These ads contained dehumanising language and advocated ethnic-based violence, in clear violation of Facebook’s Community Standards. Yet none of this was flagged by the platform’s automated software which is supposed to keep users safe.   Our previous investigations tested the social media giant’s ability to detect hate speech in Myanmar and Ethiopia, and found that their systems to monitor hate speech in Burmese and Amharic – the main languages of the respective countries – were woefully inadequate.   Was Facebook’s automated system any better in detecting hate speech written in English? To our surprise, our English-language ads were initially rejected, but not for the reasons we expected. They were found to have violated Facebook’s Grammar and Profanity policy – but once we made minor corrections, the hate-filled ads were approved without exception.   As in Myanmar and Ethiopia, reports of online hate speech and disinformation have been growing in Kenya in recent years, as more and more people become active on social media. Over 20% of the Kenyan population are now Facebook users.   As social media increasingly takes on the role of the public square where political discourse takes place, these platforms have a responsibility to ensure that they are not facilitating the spread of harmful and divisive speech.   Yet this is a responsibility which Facebook seems to have neglected. In 2020, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook was going to do much more to tackle hate on its platform. But our repeated findings – in Myanmar, Ethiopia and now Kenya – raise serious questions about whether these commitments were followed through, particularly in all parts of the world.   http://www.globalwitness.org/tagged/digital-threats/ http://www.globalwitness.org/en/press-releases/ethiopia-hate-speech-press-release/ http://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/digital-threats/hate-speech-kenyan-election/ http://www.globalwitness.org/en/press-releases/new-investigation-shows-facebook-approves-ads-containing-hate-speech-inciting-genocide-against-rohingya/   May 2022   Philippines faces stark election choice – dictator’s son or human rights lawyer? (Guardian News)   Voters in the Philippines will go to the polls for a presidential election that pits frontrunner Ferdinand Marcos Jr, the son and namesake of the late dictator, against a human rights lawyer who has promised a transparent government.   Marcos Jr, known as “Bongbong”, whose authoritarian father plundered billions of dollars from the state and presided over rife human rights abuses, has maintained a strong lead in opinion polls in the run-up to Monday’s vote. If elected president, it would mark an extraordinary rehabilitation of one of the country’s most controversial political families.   Marcos is trailed in the polls by Leni Robredo, the current vice-president and a human rights lawyer who has advocated for marginalised groups. As vice president – a position elected separately from the president – she has frequently clashed with president Rodrigo Duterte, and has condemned his so-called “war on drugs’, which has killed as many as 30,000 people according to some estimates, and prompted an investigation by the international criminal court.   Marcos, whose backers have used social media to rebrand the family and whitewash history, has a significant lead in opinion polls, according to a recent survey by Pulse Asia.   However, analysts say it is possible such surveys have overestimated Marcos’s lead, pointing to the large turnouts at Robredo’s rallies.   “The reality could be that it is a very close race,” said Ronald Mendoza, the dean of Manila’s Ateneo school of government. “Hopefully [the result] will be settled sooner because that lends itself to a more stable transition.”   On Saturday, the last day of campaigning, Robredo supporters filled the streets of Makati, in the national capital region, with a sea of bright pink, the campaign’s trademark colour. “We have the right to a future with dignity, and we have the duty to fight for it. We have learned that nothing is impossible,” Robredo told crowds of supporters.   Robredo is up against two of the country’s most powerful political families: the Marcoses, and the Dutertes. The president’s daughter, Sara Duterte, is running alongside Marcos Jr for the vice-presidency, though Duterte has not endorsed a presidential candidate.   The Marcos camp has shunned TV debates and avoided questions from media outlets it deems unfriendly. Instead, the family and its backers have used social media to reach voters, especially those who do not remember martial law, a time when thousands were killed, tortured and arrested. A network of accounts portray the Marcos period as a time when the country was prosperous and order, inundating news feeds with false claims about the period. Marcos Jr has denied the presence of any coordinated online campaign.   Robredo’s camp, by contrast, has been driven by volunteer activists who have gone house to house trying to win over undecided voters. It is a strategy that is not usually applied on such a wide scale in presidential elections in the Philippines, and its impact is unclear, say analysts.   “It’s something of a puzzle for us political scientists and observers of elections, whether this new thing in this campaign – that voluntarism, the house-to-house campaigns will matter in the final results of the elections,” said Prof Maria Ela L Atienza, who teaches political science at the University of the Philippines.   People are swayed not by loyalty to a political party, but by other personal factors, including the extent to which they feel a connection with candidates.   Atienza said the level of engagement among supporters of candidates is comparable to 1986, when Marcos Sr called snap elections – an attempt to prove his mandate amid growing pressure at home and abroad. His claim to have won, amid reports of cheating and fraud, led to the People Power Revolution, which overthrew his rule.   It put the Philippines on “the imperfect road to democracy”, said Atienza. The small gains since then could be threatened by the prospect of another Marcos presidency, she added.   * Ferdinand Marcos Jr, the son and namesake of the late dictator, has won the presidential election.   http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/rappler-maria-ressa-sec-orders-shutdown-cyber-libel-conviction/ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/podcast/dispatch/maria-ressa-journalism-democracy-philippines-re-release/   May 2022   The Marcos makeover: How history was rewritten to place a dictator's son on the cusp of power, by Bonny Symons-Brown. (ABC News)   On a rainy day in April, the man favoured to become the next president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, stood before thousands of adoring fans in Tacloban and invoked a name once considered political poison. It was the name of his own mother.   "You know I am quite sure that my mother is watching the live stream," he told the crowd, as a legion of vloggers beamed the rally to their Facebook followers. "Let's say hello Imelda. Hello Imelda!"   The mention of the Philippines' notorious former first lady, Imelda Marcos, drew rapturous cheers from the audience, as they relayed their greeting to the 92-year-old watching at home.   During the reign of her late husband Ferdinand Marcos Sr, Imelda became a global pariah for raiding the public purse to fund her extravagant lifestyle, enduringly symbolised by her vast collection of shoes.   In 1986, a popular uprising forced the Marcoses into exile in Hawaii, but not before they looted up to $US10 billion from state coffers over two decades in power, much of which has never been recovered.   For some in the Philippines, the Marcos name is a byword for brutality, corruption and theft, while others remain fiercely loyal to the family.   But as the country's presidential election campaign enters its final days, Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr, the only son of Imelda and Ferdinand Sr, is poised to complete an extraordinary rehabilitation of the family's political brand.   The 64-year-old is a front-runner in the race to succeed strongman president Rodrigo Duterte when the country votes on May 9.   Marcos Jr and his running mate Sara Duterte, the outgoing president's daughter who is standing for vice president, are campaigning on a message of national "unity". A recent poll put Marcos Jr well clear of his nearest rival, vice president Leni Robredo.   Driving the resurrection of the country's most divisive political dynasty is a calculated recasting of the ruthless Marcos dictatorship as a "golden age" of the Philippines.   "How can history have been changed so drastically?" journalist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa asked. "With the help of social media platforms."   A torrent of disinformation   Last year on September 11 – the 104th birthday of the late Ferdinand Marcos Sr – a video began circulating on Facebook, which has since been viewed over 4.7 million times. A montage of smiling well-wishers hold handmade signs reading "Happy Marcos Day" and "#Marcos Real Hero", before the video cuts to Marcos Jr making a lengthy tribute to his father's vision for the Philippines.   Set to upbeat music, the eight-minute clip is peppered with photos of the bridges, power lines, specialist hospitals – even a nuclear power plant – built under Marcos Sr's rule.   For Marcos Jr's 10 million social media followers, videos like this feed the narrative of a lost era of economic greatness.   It is this revisionist history that Marcos Jr has put at the centre of his campaign, which experts say is key to his rising popularity.   The true legacy of Marcos Sr's infrastructure binge was a mountain of debt that ballooned from $843 million when he took office in 1965 to over $39 billion by the time he was deposed.   For decades after Marcos Sr was driven into exile by the "People Power Revolution", the Philippines was known as "the sick man of Asia" due to its struggling economy. The nuclear power plant – also funded by foreign loans – has never become operational.   Pro-Marcos propaganda dominating platforms like Facebook, YouTube and TikTok is helping to rewrite the past for many who did not live through the dark reality of that era.   Around half the country's 67.5 million eligible voters are aged between 18 and 42. Many don't know the brutal years of martial law that began in 1972, when thousands were killed and tortured, or how the Marcoses accumulated billions in ill-gotten riches at their citizens' expense.   Indeed, on social media, the Marcos era is basking in a moment of sunny nostalgia. In one viral TikTok trend, users took up a challenge to film their older family members' reactions as they played March Of The New Society, an anthem associated with the period of martial law.   "Based on the stories of my grandmother … it was good in those days," Chemmy Rivas, a young Marcos supporter from Tacloban, told Foreign Correspondent on the day Marcos Jr visited town.   One falsehood gaining traction online claims no arrests were made during martial law, despite Marcos Snr himself admitting to Amnesty International in 1975 that 50,000 people were arrested.   It is deeply concerning for Tina Bawagan, who was tortured during martial law after joining the underground resistance to the Marcoses.   "The young ones, they don't know that this happened, and they believe that the Marcoses had a good government," she said. "It's essential that we continue to tell the story so that it doesn't happen again."   But telling the story is increasingly challenging in the Philippines, where social media networks have come to dominate the information landscape.   Sidelining the mainstream media   Throughout the election campaign, Marcos Jr has mostly avoided journalists. He rarely gives interviews and last month refused a public debate with his top rival, claiming he wanted to stay out of the mudslinging and focus on running a "positive campaign".   According to Aries Arugay, a political scientist from the University of the Philippines Diliman, the strategy has not hampered his ability to get his message out.   "Their disinformation game is top notch," Arugay said of the Marcos Jr campaign. "They're resting comfortably in that disinformation infrastructure that has been quite important in their campaign."   A recent study found Facebook was the number one driver of disinformation in this election campaign and most of it was benefiting Marcos Jr.   "Facebook is our internet," said Ressa, co-founder of the independent Filipino news website Rappler. "One hundred per cent of Filipinos on the internet are on Facebook."   According to Ressa, social media is likely to prove the decisive factor in the election. Her team has been investigating the growing influence of disinformation networks on social media like those used to amplify President Rodrigo Duterte's message, with devastating effect, during the 2016 election campaign.   The team found that, since 2016, social media has come to dominate the centre of the Philippines' "information ecosystem", while news organisations that "thought they had tremendous power were essentially pushed to the side," Ressa said.   For some Filipinos, Facebook is their only source of news. Residents of Manila's poorer neighbourhoods may not have electricity, TV or radio, but most have a mobile phone.   Those who run out of phone credit are still able to browse the Facebook newsfeed, which means they get the headlines but are unable to dive deeper.   "Our minds are being poisoned by fake news, wrong history," community political organiser Jaja Fugoso told Foreign Correspondent.   Most people in the community where she works get their history lessons from TikTok and YouTube, she said.   Some social media content originates from the Marcos campaign, but a large portion is produced by an army of online acolytes, who can generate revenue from popular posts.   Video bloggers Ruben Gelio and Jay Cho don't work for the Marcos campaign but they make a living live streaming campaign events on Facebook and posting positive content about Marcos Jr.   Gelio, 24, believes vloggers like him have become more powerful than the mainstream media. "Some of the media is so biased about Marcos and they never show anything that Bongbong Marcos does a good deed," he said. "As vloggers, we show the other side of the coin to the people. This is the real Marcos, not the one that mainstream said."   'Lies spread faster than facts'   In an effort to push back the tide of disinformation, mainstream media organisations have teamed up with tech companies to create fact-checking collectives like tsek.ph.   Rappler has launched its own fact-checking operation, debunking claims including that the Philippines was "the richest country next to Japan during Marcos' term".   Social media networks are also cracking down on the disinformation flooding their platforms.   In January, Twitter suspended more than 300 accounts and hashtags promoting Marcos Jr, for violating its policies against spam and manipulation. Then in April, Facebook suspended a network of over 400 accounts, pages and groups in a move designed to crack down on hate speech and misinformation.   But while some pro-Marcos disinformation networks have been taken down, many have regenerated and stand poised to "help pave the way for a [Marcos] win", according to Ressa.   "You cannot have integrity of elections if you don't have integrity of facts," she said. "And what social media has done is not only make facts debatable, but to actually spread lies faster than facts."   Of all the contested facts about the Marcoses, perhaps the most astonishing is that some now doubt whether they stole money at all.   The Marcoses' extravagant theft of state riches has been well documented, not least by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), a body set up by former president Corazon Aquino as one of her first orders of business in 1986 to recoup the family's hidden loot.   The PCGG estimated the Marcoses amassed somewhere between $US5 billion and $US10 billion of assets, including jewels, gold, real estate, famous artworks and cash stuffed in Swiss bank accounts.   "Children were dying of malnutrition, but the Marcoses went on shopping, stealing, hoarding ill-gotten wealth," said Filipino lawyer Ruben Carranza, who was part of the PCGG investigation.   The commission has recovered about $US3.3 billion and another $2.4 billion is under litigation.   In 2018, Imelda Marcos was sentenced for graft, but has never spent a day in prison and is currently free on bail appealing the decision. Her seeming impunity has helped fuel perceptions that the Marcoses are innocent, a claim that finds a willing audience on social media. A myth claiming Ferdinand Marcos Sr inherited an enormous amount of gold during his time as a lawyer has been doing the rounds for over a decade.   Disillusioned by the failure of successive governments to tackle the poverty and corruption that continue to dog daily life, many Filipinos appear willing to overlook not only the late dictator's massive theft and human rights violations, but Marcos Jr's own 1997 conviction for failing to file tax returns, which some opponents have argued should disqualify him from the presidency.   Many fear a Marcos Jr presidency would spell the end of any further investigation into the family's corruption.   Aries Arugay said a Marcos in the presidential palace would also ensure Imelda Marcos continues to enjoy impunity for her part in fleecing the country for her own personal gain. "The conventional wisdom is the dynasties are good for dynasties, but they're really bad for governance and the people."   http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/12/philippines-marcos-memory-election/ http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-61339293 http://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220503-marcos-heir-to-oversee-hunt-for-loot-if-he-wins-philippines-presidency http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/philippines-election-marcos-fortune/ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/08/philippines-election-voters-marcos-jr-dictator-son-leni-robredo-human-rights http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/8/why-the-2022-philippines-election-is-so-significant http://www.ips-journal.eu/topics/democracy-and-society/who-will-succeed-the-philippiness-duterte-5921/
	UN Human Rights Office assessment of human rights concerns in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Region by OHCHR, DW, agencies China   Sep. 2022   The UN Human Rights Office has issued an assessment of human rights concerns in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.   The assessment was initiated following serious allegations of human rights violations against Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim communities brought to the attention of the UN Human Rights Office and UN human rights mechanisms since late 2017, particularly in the context of the Chinese Government’s policies and measures to combat terrorism and “extremism”.   The assessment is based on a review of documentary material currently available to the Office, with its credibility assessed in accordance with standard human rights methodology. Particular attention was given to the Government’s own laws, policies, data and statements. The Office also requested information and engaged in dialogue and technical exchanges with China throughout the process.   The information was assessed against applicable international human rights law, and builds on the work of a number of UN human rights mechanisms. The UN Human Rights Office stands ready to support China in addressing the issues and recommendations articulated in the assessment.   China responsible for ‘serious human rights violations’ in Xinjiang province: UN human rights report. (UN News)   The long-awaited report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) into what China refers to as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) has concluded that “serious human rights violations” against the Uyghur and “other predominantly Muslim communities” have been committed.   The report published in the wake of the visit by UN High Commissioner of Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet in May, said that “allegations of patterns of torture, or ill-treatment, including forced medical treatment and adverse conditions of detention, are credible, as are allegations of individual incidents of sexual and gender-based violence.”   In a strongly-worded assessment at the end of the report, OHCHR said that the extent of arbitrary detentions against Uyghur and others, in context of “restrictions and deprivation more generally of fundamental rights, enjoyed individually and collectively, may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.”   Published on Ms. Bachelet’s final day of her four-year term in office, the report says that the violations have taken place in the context of the Chinese Government’s assertion that it is targeting terrorists among the Uyghur minority with a counter-extremism strategy that involves the use of so-called Vocational Educational and Training Centres (VETCs), or re-education camps.   OHCHR said that the Government policy in recent years in Xinjiang has “led to interlocking patterns of severe and undue restrictions on a wide range of human rights.”   Even if the VETC system has as China says, “been reduced in scope or wound up”, said OHCHR, “the laws and policies that underpin it remain in place”, leading to an increased use of imprisonment.   The systems of arbitrary detention and related patterns of abuse since 2017, said OHCHR, “come against the backdrop of broader discrimination” against Uyghur and other minorities.   “This has included far-reaching, arbitrary and discriminatory restrictions on human rights and fundamental freedoms, in violation of international laws and standards”, including restrictions on religious freedom and the rights to privacy and movement.   The report said that Chinese Government policies in the region have “transcended borders”, separating families, “severing” contacts, producing “patterns of intimidations and threats” against the wider Uyghur diaspora who have spoken out about conditions at home.   OHCHR said that the Chinese Government “holds the primary duty to ensure that all laws and policies are brought into compliance with international human rights law and to promptly investigate any allegations of human rights violations, to ensure accountability for perpetrators, and to provide redress to victims.”   Report recommendations   Among the recommendations that the UN rights office makes in the report, is for the Government to take “prompt steps” to release all individuals arbitrarily imprisoned in XUAR, whether in camps or any other detention centre.   China should let families know the whereabouts of any individuals who have been detained, providing exact locations, and help to establish “safe channels of communication” and allow families to reunite, said the report.   The report calls on China to undertake a full legal review of its national security and counter-terrorism policies in XUAR, “to ensure their full compliance with binding international human rights law” and repeal any laws that fall short of international standards.   It also calls for a prompt Government investigation into allegations of human rights violations in camps and other detention facilities, “including allegations of torture, sexual violence, ill-treatment, forced medical treatment, as well as forced labour and reports of deaths in custody.”   Chinese rebuttal   In a long and detailed response published along with the report, the Chinese Government said in conclusion, that authorities in the Xinjiang region operate on the principle that everyone is equal before the law, “and the accusation that its policy is ‘based on discrimination’ is groundless.” China said that its counter-terrorism and “de-radicalization efforts” in the region, had been conducted according to “the rule of law” and by no means add up to “suppression of ethnic minorities.”   On the issue of the camps, Beijing responded that the VETCs are “learning facilities established in accordance with law intended for de-radicalization” and not “concentration camps”. China’s statement added that there had been no “massive violation of rights”.   The human rights chief undertook her mission in May, at the invitation of the Chinese Government and visited XUAR to review the situation there. During her mission, Ms. Bachelet spoke with a range of government officials, several civil society organisations, academics, and community and religious leaders. In addition, she met several organizations online ahead of the visit, on issues relating to Xinjiang province, Tibet, Hong Kong, and other parts of China.   At the end of her visit, while expressing concern over issues relating to Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong, human rights defenders and labour rights, she praised China’s “tremendous achievements” in alleviating poverty, and eradicating extreme poverty, 10 years ahead of its target date.   * The assessment and the Government of China’s response are available here:   http://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/country-reports/ohchr-assessment-human-rights-concerns-xinjiang-uyghur-autonomous-region http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/09/china-xinjiangs-forced-separations-and-language-policies-uyghur-children http://news.un.org/en/story/2022/08/1125932 http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/11/china-un-committee-elimination-racial-discrimination-calls-probe-xinjiang http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/02/china-un-experts-alarmed-separation-1-million-tibetan-children-families-and   May 2022 (DW)   A cache of leaked files and photos sheds new light on the methods used by the Chinese government towards the Muslim Uyghur minority in the northwestern Xinjiang region.   China is accused of operating a network of centers in the region to reeducate Uyghurs, forcing them to unlearn their culture and religion. Over one million detainees are obliged to learn Mandarin Chinese and adopt a secular-aligned, pro-Communist Party outlook.   According to the leaked files published by the BBC, China uses a shoot-to-kill policy for Uyghurs who dare to escape the internment camps. The documents contradict the official line of Chinese officials that the Uyghurs voluntarily choose to attend the centers.   China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin rejected the report saying the media is "spreading lies and rumors."   The revelations pose troubling questions for world leaders alarmed by human rights abuses in Xinjiang. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock spoke with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Tuesday, and mentioned "the shocking reports and new evidence of very serious human rights violations in Xinjiang."   Baerbock urged a "transparent investigation" into the reports in the leaked files, according to a German Foreign Ministry statement.   The release of the documents also comes as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet is on an official trip to China.   http://www.permanentrepresentations.nl/permanent-representations/pr-un-geneva/documents/speeches/2022/06/14/hrc50_item2_jst_china http://news.un.org/en/story/2022/06/1120172 Visit the related web page
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