China: Human Rights and Security

Lord Bishop of Guildford Excerpts

Thursday 19th December 2024 Lords Chamber

[The Lord Bishop of Guildford]

My Lords, as the grandson of former medical missionaries in south-west China, I take great interest in this debate. As others have expressed, I am really grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Alton, for his remarkable and indefatigable commitment to human rights and freedom of religion or belief all around the world. I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Ahmad—it is a privilege to speak after him—for his huge commitment in this area over many years.

I share with my forebears a deep respect for the Chinese people, their culture, their discipline and their character, but I have been horrified by stories of the oppression and maltreatment of religious minorities and critics of the regime over very many years. I have paid several illuminating visits to China to witness that for myself. This afternoon, like others, I wish to highlight the desperate situation of Uighur Muslims in the north-western region of Xinjiang, whom the other place has declared as being subject to genocide. Specifically, I urge His Majesty’s Government to ensure that the screening of goods made in forced labour camps—everything from solar panels to tomatoes—prevents them being imported into this country.

The challenges faced by Uighur Muslims are now well-documented. They are herded into so-called vocational skills, education and training centres, surrounded by guards who operate a shoot-to-kill policy on those who would try to escape. Subjected to mass indoctrination, forced labour and coercive sterilisation. it is hard to imagine a more egregious example of modern slavery in the world today. It was hugely encouraging that the Labour Party in opposition gave such an unwavering commitment to the call to designate these atrocities as genocide, pure and simple—or, as we might say, impure and simple.

The response of other western allies has been similarly forceful but supported by actions which His Majesty’s Government have thus far failed to match. The Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act in the USA and the EU’s forced labour investment screening mechanism already work to prevent goods from the region reaching the US and European markets. In the EU, there is a legal requirement for border officials to screen goods coming into their respective countries, while the USA has reversed the burden of proof on businesses to guarantee, so far as possible, that their supply chains are not tainted by Uighur Muslim forced labour. No such mechanism exists in the UK today, demonstrating a serious lack of alignment with our allies in an area where we should be joined at the hip.

In the last six months, two direct cargo routes have been established from Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang province, to airports in Bournemouth and Cardiff. Media reports state that European Cargo, a UK company registered in Hertfordshire, is ferrying goods to this country from an area declared to be the subject of an ongoing genocide. Meanwhile, Ministers have informed a colleague that UK Border Force currently has no power or legal obligation to search those flights, which creates a gaping loophole for those who would seek to profit from the current atrocities being experienced.

In an Answer to a recent Written Question asking His Majesty’s Government what plans they had, if any, to suspend cargo routes from Xinjiang to UK airports, the noble Lord, Lord Hendy, replied:

“His Majesty’s Government have no plans to restrict cargo operations between Xinjiang and UK airports. The decision to operate particular routes is a commercial decision for airlines”.


His Majesty’s Government previously made commitments to tackle the scourge of modern slavery but, until this loophole is closed, the UK will effectively become the dumping ground for goods produced in such horrendous circumstances. Indeed, it may well be that already.

I therefore ask the Government to develop policies similar to those of the US and EU, to ensure that this debate leads beyond rhetoric and good intentions to the solid action which is so urgently needed.