Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the (a) effectiveness and (b) adequacy of UK sanctions in response to ongoing human rights violations in the Uyghur Region since 22 April 2021.

This Government stands firm on human rights, including in Xinjiang, where China continues to persecute and arbitrarily detain Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities. We continue to raise our concerns at the highest levels: the Prime Minister raised human rights in his meeting with President Xi Jinping in January.

We also continue to coordinate efforts with our international partners to hold China to account for human rights violations, for example by joining a statement led by Australia on Xinjiang and Tibet at the UN General Assembly last October.