Foreign minister Pekka Haavisto (Green) tells Yle he has found new revelations about China’s treatment of its Uighur population "very worrying."
Earlier this week, Yle and other international media reported a large-scale information leak that provided a new insight into the repression of China’s Muslim minorities in western Xinjiang Province.
The data confirmed previous estimates that China has transferred at least one to two million Uighurs to detention centers, prisons and labor camps in Xinjiang. China has called these camps by name "retraining center," where, among other things, religious extremism is eradicated.
"Of course, there are things we are very concerned about," Haavisto said in Washington on Friday.
Haavisto said that the matter has already been discussed in the UN Human Rights Council, of which Finland is a member.
"My impression is that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights [Michelle] Bachelet has traveled to China for this very reason, and we are awaiting his report," Haavisto told Yle.
Bachelet’s six-day visit to China is coming to an end, where he planned to visit Xinjiang. The Commissioner for Human Rights is due to hold a press conference on Saturday.
Yle asked Haavisto whether the new information would affect Finland’s policy towards China.
"Certainly all such human rights issues and other issues will be taken into account in our relations with China, but above all, of course, we will seek to contribute to the improvement of human rights through the UN and the UN Human Rights Council." Haavisto said.
Source: The Nordic Page