UN seeks access to Uighur camps in Xinjiang

The United Nations Human Rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, has sought access to the Uighur camps in China's Xinjiang Province to verify "worrying" reports about human rights violations in the region.

Quoting Bachelet, CNN reported that her office is seeking direct access to the camps.

"We wish to engage China in a serious dialogue on this pressing matter," Bachelet said while referring to the UN extending help to China to deal with violent extremism.

The Uighurs are a Muslim majority in the Xinjiang province, situated in the western part of China and is officially designated as an autonomous region.

Experts have said that over one million Uighurs have been detained in internment camps where they are forced to undergo forceful re-education or indoctrination.

The Chinese government, on the other hand, has continuously denied any human rights violations in the region.

In a recent press briefing, the Chairman of the Government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Shohrat Zakir, claimed that the Chinese government's policies in the region have led to the containment of religious extremism, has brought peace and led to economic growth in Xinjiang.

He further stated that the Chinese Government's "vocational education and training programme" in Xinjiang has been created in response to the United Nations General Assembly's resolution on Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, and has combined the fight against terrorism with the protection of human rights.