Oral Answers to Questions

Afzal Khan Excerpts

Tuesday 8th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

My right hon. Friend will know that the resolution that was tabled garnered only two votes in the UN Security Council. The UK’s position is clear: we want to see the continuation of the arms embargo. It has to get through the Security Council, as frustrating as that may be. We have offered our good offices; indeed, had time been allowed between the original tabling of the resolution and the vote, we had offered, with the E3, to work with all the permanent members of the Security Council to try to find a compromise. Ultimately, unless the resolution can pass, it has no impact in restraining Iran.

[Afzal Khan (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab) [V]]

Nearly 80% of the Uyghur Muslim population has vanished since 2016, as a result of either detainment in concentration camps or forced disappearance. The Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales has detailed disturbing covert drone footage showing Uyghurs blindfolded and taken on to trains. In the light of that, will the Secretary of State outline what steps his Department is taking to hold the Chinese Government to account for these heinous crimes? Will he confirm today that the Government will call for an impartial international investigation into what is taking place in Xinjiang?

[Nigel Adams]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question, and he is absolutely right to raise it. We have serious concerns about gross human rights violations being perpetrated against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, including the extrajudicial detention of over 1 million Uyghur Muslims and other minorities in political re-education camps—as they have been referred to. We are playing a leading role in holding China to account for its widespread violations of human rights. On 30 June, the UK led a joint statement on behalf of 27 other countries at the UN Human Rights Council about the situation in Xinjiang. Finally, the Foreign Secretary has again raised Xinjiang with his Chinese Foreign Minister counterpart.