China refuses top human rights official access to Uighur Muslim 're-education' camps

China has blocked a leading human rights official from visiting the “re-education camps” which hold as many as one million Uighur Muslims.

Barbel Kofler, the German human rights commissioner, had planned to travel to the heavily-policed northwestern region of Xinjiang to observe the country’s treatment of the minority group.

It follows reports that the Chinese government has extended state surveillance into the homes of Uighur families as part of what it claims is a clampdown on religious extremism and terrorism.

“I am shocked by reports of the treatment of the Turkic Uighur minority,” Ms Kofler said in a statement. “Unfortunately, my request to travel to Xinjiang was refused. “I would have liked to have gained a first-hand impression of the situation there and will continue to push for permission to visit Xinjiang soon.”

The UN‘s top human rights official, Michelle Bachelet, is also seeking access to the region to verify reports of conditions in the camps.

“We have been asking for direct access to the region to be able to check and verify the worrying reports we are receiving,” Ms Bachelet told a news conference in Geneva on Wednesday.

Former inmates and monitoring groups say those interned in the camps are subjected to prison-like conditions and forced to renounce their religion and cultural background while swearing loyalty to Communist Party leader and President Xi Jinping.

The state has also imposed an increasingly strict security regime in the region since 2017, including armed checkpoints and streets lined with facial recognition-equipped CCTV.

Authorities in one city, Hami, ordered Uighurs to hand themselves in if they followed “problematic” Islamic practices such as abstention from alcohol.

China has responded to increasing international concern by warning foreign ambassadors not to “interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.”

The government’s refusal to allow Ms Kofler to visit the region means she will instead spend two days in Tibet on 6 and 7 December.

Ms Kofler is due to chair talks with her Chinese counterparts in Lhasa about the human rights situation following reports of excessive controls, restrictions on religious freedom and punishment of relatives for the crimes of family members.

Tibet had been largely independent before communist forces invaded in 1950 and China responded to riots and protests in 2008 with a deadly crackdown before accusing the Dalai Lama of orchestrating an uprising.

China has also extended its campaign against Muslims and other religious minorities to other provinces such as Gansu, where authorities shut down a school teaching Arabic.

“I am deeply concerned about the human rights situation in China,” said Ms Kofler. “It has become even more serious in recent years. This is particularly affecting the critical voices in civil society – human rights lawyers, journalists and bloggers.

“I believe it is important for a regular, close and direct exchange with the Chinese Government to take place. That is the only way that we will be in a position to openly discuss issues on which we disagree.”

The two countries last held human rights talks in Germany in 2016, after China cancelled the scheduled dialogue in 2017.

Additional reporting by Associated Press