A long-awaited UN report on Xinjiang may be further delayed, stalling what's seen as a critical chance to call China to account

It's been four years since a committee of United Nations experts called attention to "credible reports" that more than 1 million Uyghur and other Muslim minority peoples were interned in extrajudicial camps in Xinjiang in northwestern China for "re-education" and indoctrination.

But since that moment in August 2018, the international community has done little on the basis of those reports within the UN: Countries in the UN's main human rights body have not agreed to any formal call for a probe, while appeals from UN experts for China to allow for rights monitoring have been met with fierce denials of wrongdoing from Beijing and no invite for free access to come see for themselves.

Now, a report by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet could bolster the push for accountability and elevate the voices of survivors and their families in a way the UN system has not previously done -- creating the potential for a turning point for how the international community, and top UN officials, have handled these accounts.