Freedom of Religion or Belief in China

Chris Evans Excerpts

Wednesday 18th March 2026 Westminster Hall

[Chris Evans (Caerphilly) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Jardine.

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for St Helens South and Whiston (Ms Rimmer) for securing the debate. This is not the first time that either of us have spoken on this topic in this place. I also pay tribute to the Father of the House for his speech. I hope that Pope Leo heeds his call and follows the example of his predecessor, John Paul II, in standing up to communism around the world.

I am delighted to see present the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith), who has previously spoken passionately about the Uyghur Muslims in China. I am disappointed that he came in late, because I was looking forward to hearing his remarks. I hope you can fit him in at some point, Ms Jardine.

On 12 October 2020, as a member of the Petitions Committee I led a debate on China’s policy on its Uyghur population. The petition we debated asked the Government at the time to impose sanctions on China over its treatment of Uyghur Muslims, and had nearly 150,000 signatures. Many Members spoke of how Uyghur Muslims, a Turkic ethnic group native to Xinjiang, China, had been subject to mass detention, surveillance, forced labour and many other human rights abuses. It is a tragedy that, six years later, nothing has changed, and the Uyghurs still face unimaginable horrors.

Just 1.8% of China’s population is Muslim; however, the Chinese Government are making it almost impossible to practice Islam freely, thanks to strict, unlawful restrictions. Under the guise of preventing religious extremism, they target any form of expression of Islam, even if it is practised behind closed doors in someone’s home.

According to the House of Commons Library, over 1 million Uyghurs have been forced into re-education camps since 2017. These re-education camps are nothing of the sort. According to the BBC and other news sources, in these camps women were sexually assaulted, Muslims were forced to eat pork and detainees were subject to all forms of abuse. Simultaneously, in Xinjiang mosques were destroyed, halal food was hard to find and fasting during was Ramadan not allowed, making it impossible for Uyghurs to freely practice their religion and beliefs.

China views any practice associated with Islam as extremism. The Chinese Communist party wants to completely erase the Uyghur population, their culture and their way of life. The BBC has also revealed that women have experienced forced sterilisation, forced abortion, rape, assault and separation from their children and families. The Council on Foreign Relations claims that children have been sent to boarding schools without parental consent. The injustices that women and children face are nothing short of horrifying. As a democratic Government, we must continue to speak up for women and girls’ rights around the world, just as we have been doing here in the United Kingdom.

I think the same now as I thought in 2020, when I sat on the Opposition Benches. We as a country cannot be silent about China’s actions. They are not only a clear restriction on the ability to freely practice beliefs, but a threat to the existence of an entire group of people. It is nothing short of truly sickening.

The so-called re-education camps may have largely been abandoned since 2023 because the Chinese Communist party has adopted new methods, but freely practising Islam is still forbidden and punished. The methods of eradication have changed; the aim has not. The changes indicate not an easing of China’s policy, but an erasure of Uyghur culture, which has been dismantled, attacked and stamped out for years. The formal justice system is now being used to imprison people for reasons such as attending mosque services, sending texts containing verses from the Quran or contacting people from any of the 26 countries that China considers sensitive. Their crime, in China’s eyes, is simply having been born a Muslim.

Just last week, the Telegraph carried a story about a new shared identity law in China. The law, which my hon. Friend the Member for St Helens South and Whiston has touched on, was introduced to further assimilate Uyghurs by requiring pre-school children to learn Mandarin and giving Chinese characters priority over the scripts of minority languages. The Chinese Government also changed the name of 630 Uyghur villages. The end goal is the erosion of the cultural practices and rights of minority groups.

I am sure that I speak for everyone in this room when I say that I am especially appalled by reports of organ harvesting. It is horrific, repulsive and inhumane. It has no place in the 21st century. There are truly no words to describe the operation that the Chinese Communist party has been running.

China’s actions are affecting Uyghurs not only in China, but worldwide. The Thai Government deported 48 Uyghurs in February 2025, despite that Government’s incorporation of an international legal principle that bans countries from returning people to a place where they face the risk of persecution. China’s influence is evidently spreading: Beijing has pressured other Governments to repatriate Uyghurs who have fled China.

China denies to Uyghur Muslims communication with the rest of the world. That is why it is up to democratic Governments who believe in the rule of law to speak up with one voice and condemn the actions of the Chinese Communist party. Equally, we cannot stand by and let China’s influence spread. People should feel safe to freely practise their religious beliefs, and we must continue to acknowledge the human rights abuses that China has been committing for years. Human rights abuses should be called out, whoever commits them. We should not be afraid to stand up to them and speak out when we see or hear about them.

Given how difficult it is to hear from Uyghurs in China, the Government must listen to those around the world and their experiences. They provide a rare opportunity for us to hear about the brutality of their treatment. We must give them a voice and, more importantly, listen and respond to what they are saying. I therefore ask the Minister: in what ways are the Government communicating with Uyghurs around the world? I urge the Minister to continue making use of advocacy groups such as Stop Uyghur Genocide and the Muslim Association of Britain to truly listen to the horrific experience of Uyghur Muslims and understand how our Government can support them.

The freedom of religion or belief strategy, which was published in July 2025, highlights China as a focus country. Can the Minister give more details on how the strategy has helped those who face religious persecution in China, specifically Uyghurs, and on whether there are any new updates or changes to the way the strategy works? Does the Minister have any plans to introduce stronger sanctions, given that China is not improving its treatment of Uyghur Muslims? Our Government cannot refuse to impose harsher sanctions or pose harder questions because economic questions are at stake. When an entire religious group’s existence is threatened, we must stand alongside them. Not only is that in line with the Labour Government’s values, but it should be in line with humanity.

I would also like to know what the Government are doing specifically to support Uyghur women and children around the world. They, in particular, have been silenced and have faced gender-based violence. It is vital that we create new, different and tailored ways to give them a voice and support within the freedom of religion or belief strategy.

I do not want to be standing here in six years’ time with the same things happening: more abuse and more erosion of human rights. I do not want to be standing here with a Government who are afraid to stand up to China because they see it as economically powerful. I want something done, and I want it done now. It does not matter whether someone is Christian, Muslim or whatever religion they subscribe to. We are all humans, and we should stand up for the human race.