Uyghur and Turkic Muslims: Forced Labour in China

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Wednesday 6th November 2024 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

Thank you for the opportunity to speak, Mr Dowd. I thank the hon. Member for East Renfrewshire (Blair McDougall) for setting the scene so well and with such compassion, understanding and detail. There is no one in this House or outside it who would say that he does not understand the issue very well. We look to the Minister to respond to our requests. I wish him well in his position—it is nice to see him back—and hope that he can give us reassurance. I am pretty sure we will be unanimous, requesting the same thing with one voice.

I congratulate the hon. Member for East Renfrewshire on his unwavering support for the Uyghur people. In my role as chair of the all-party parliamentary group for international freedom of religion or belief, it is my duty and responsibility to speak on behalf of all those who face persecution on account of their faith, their beliefs or simply their right to exist. That is what we are really talking about here: the right to exist.

In recent years, the situation for the Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province has intensified to a level that is almost incomprehensible. International human rights organisations, survivor testimony and investigative journalism have documented alarming reports of abuses encompassing forced labour, torture, arbitrary detention, cultural erasure and much more. Evidence from credible sources suggests that since 2017 up to 3 million Uyghur Muslims may have been detained in what Chinese authorities term “re-education camps”. What a term! That is so wrong.

The vastness of the detention camps indicates an industrial-scale operation. Detainees are stripped of legal recourse, are often held without charge and are separated indefinitely from their families. The hon. Gentleman referred to children being taken away from their mum and dad. It must be incredibly difficult for someone to deal with not knowing where their children are or whether they will ever see them again.

Disturbingly, reports indicate that detainees are forced to abandon their cultural practices and religious observances under the guise of re-education. Many have been detained for so-called infractions as minor as possessing the Koran or praying at home—imagine being imprisoned for praying in your own house where nobody can see you. Somebody must have seen those people and told on them. Such charges reveal a policy not of reform but of deliberate, state-sanctioned erasure.

An estimated 80,000 Uyghurs have been forcibly moved from Xinjiang province to work in factories across China in conditions that indicate forced labour. Investigations have implicated prominent global brands—the hon. Gentleman referred to many of them; Apple, Nike and Volkswagen are just three—in benefiting from that exploitative system. Those companies need to be accountable. It is not all about profit, how much they can make for their shareholders or what they can do; it is about what is right. Human rights abuses are not right. No company that does that should think that it can get away with it. We in the west should make companies that sell in the west accountable for the process.

In 2023, a coalition of human rights groups urged global supply chains to sever ties with any forced labour practices in Xinjiang province, yet companies continue to engage in such transactions on opaque terms. In the light of that, I will ask the Minister some questions. What measures are the Government taking to enforce stricter import regulations to prevent products from those supply chains entering the United Kingdom? The hon. Gentleman gave three times at which those products are arriving in Great Britain. If we know what time they will arrive, we should be able to do something about that. It is essential that our economy does not implicitly endorse such abuses. I know that the Minister and the Government will not do that, but we need action to follow up the words in today’s debate.

The surveillance infrastructure in Xinjiang province is one of the most technologically advanced in the world. Reports from 2022 indicate that companies such as Hikvision and SenseTime have supplied facial recognition technology specifically designed to identify Uyghurs. The level to which the Chinese Communist party will go to identify Uyghurs is incredible. I do not begin to understand technology—I am from a different generation —but I understand that that is wrong. That facial profiling extends beyond Xinjiang, infiltrating public places and tracking individuals across the country, wherever they may be.

In a troubling parallel, the use of artificial intelligence by the Chinese authorities has expanded to track behaviours deemed to be suspicious. What is meant by behaviours? Is it walking down the street on the wrong side, talking to somebody or bumping into somebody by accident? What does “behaviour” mean, and who decides what behaviour is incorrect? We seem to be talking about behaviours ranging from owning certain apps to communicating with overseas contacts. That digital repression is paired with a social credit system that penalises Uyghurs and other minorities for perceived infractions, curtailing their freedom of movement and employment opportunities.

The Chinese state is taking over the very life and blood and breathing of the Uyghur people. One of the most horrifying allegations to emerge in recent years is that of forced organ harvesting. Some years ago —I believe it may have been prior to 2015—I brought forward a debate about organ transplants taking place among the Falun Gong, another religious group. There was a report that the Chinese Government were doing organ transplantation on an industrial scale. They are at it again, only this time it is not the Falun Gong but the Uyghurs, so we really need to step up.

The China tribunal chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice found credible evidence to suggest that Uyghurs, alongside other minorities such as Falun Gong practitioners, have been killed for their organs—killed for their organs. The Government remove them on an industrial scale, showing total disrespect for the people who lose their organs. In 2022, the UN Human Rights Council called for greater transparency and accountability from China and demanded clarity on how organs are sourced. Despite those international calls, there has been no co-operation whatever from the Chinese authorities. That is no surprise, given that it is an autocratic state that does not believe in human rights or liberties, or the right for people to have their own religious views and freedoms.

In the light of those grave allegations, I again urge the Minister to adopt stronger legislative measures to prevent UK citizens—citizens from this country—from engaging in transplant tourism. I understand that the previous Government took some action on that, but I am keen to hear what has been done and to get an update on where we are.

Another area of grave concern is the extensive use of biometric and DNA data collection. Since 2021, every Uyghur in Xinjiang province has been required to undergo biometric registration, including facial scans, fingerprints and even voice samples—my goodness! Alarming questions are raised about that mass data collection and its potential uses, which include heightened monitoring and the suppression of an entire ethnic group. What is it for? Repression is already there, but with the rise of sophisticated AI-driven tools, such databases could further enable targeted repression that is even more subjective, violent and difficult. I again call on the Government to press for an independent investigation by international human rights bodies and to seek accountability for that systematic abuse.

Beyond physical oppression, an insidious campaign aims to erase Uyghur culture, their language and their right to practise their religion as they wish, which is a right that I uphold and support across this great world. Xinjiang’s mosques have been destroyed or repurposed —my goodness, a mosque repurposed—when their sole objective is to let people worship their God and follow their religious viewpoints. Uyghur language schools have also been shut down and traditional practices have been banned.

In 2022, UNESCO expressed concern about the cultural genocide unfolding in Xinjiang province, yet China continues to stifle cultural expression with impunity, seeming to think that it can do whatever it wants and get away with it. Those responsible may think that they can get away with it in this world, but I believe that they will be held accountable to God in the next world for what they do wrong. I would also like to see them accountable in this world, so they get it in both places. Whatever the Government can do to make that happen would be helpful.

We are not talking about a mere matter of policy; it is a deliberate attempt to erase people’s identity, their history and their place within China’s fabric. This great nation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland champions the freedom of belief and cultural expression. The UK must therefore continue to voice its condemnation.

In 2023, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a detailed report condemning the abuses in Xinjiang province, describing the situation as “crimes against humanity”. Those are not just words; they explain implicitly and fully what it means to be a Uyghur Muslim in China. Numerous countries have since imposed sanctions against Chinese officials involved in the abuses. Will the Minister say whether we have done likewise where we can? The UK’s response has been measured, but we now have a new Government and an opportunity to do better. I look to the Minister and our Government to do better if we can.

I call on the Government to consider imposing Magnitsky sanctions on individuals and entities proven to be complicit in the abuses. In this debate, we must send a very clear message that the United Kingdom will not tolerate human rights violations by any power in this world, no matter how great it thinks it is. I believe in a God who can strike those people down. This is a call to action: the horrors faced by Uyghur Muslims must not be met with silence or passive disapproval. The Government have an opportunity—indeed, I believe they have a responsibility —to stand with the persecuted, uphold justice and affirm our commitment to human rights.

I will conclude with this: the Chinese Government are guilty of genocide. The evidence is enormous. The cries of the Uyghurs and Turkic Muslims have to be addressed and the Chinese Communist party must be held accountable. I urge the Minister, on behalf of the House, to address the issue with clarity, conviction and above all a steadfast commitment to justice. The world is watching, and history will remember how we responded to this dark chapter and the role that we played.