Torture, rape and forced sterilization: China’s abuse of Uyghurs ‘credible,’ says UN

The United Nations released a bombshell report into serious human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region on Wednesday, saying torture allegations were credible and citing possible crimes against humanity.

The report, in the making for around a year, was released just 13 minutes before Michelle Bachelet’s four-year term as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights expired.

The former Chilean president was determined to ensure the report saw the light of day - despite intense pressure from an infuriated Beijing.

Ms Bachelet has faced criticism for the UN’s soft treatment of China’s actions in Xinjiang and the publication of the report has been delayed for months.

China has been accused for years of detaining more than one million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the far-western Xinjiang region.

Campaigners have accused China of a litany of abuses, while Beijing has vehemently rejected the claims, insisting it is running vocational training centres in Xinjiang designed to counter extremism.