Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to make further representations to the government of China on granting the UN full access to re-education camps.

We have serious concerns about the human rights situation in Xinjiang and the Chinese Government's deepening crackdown; including credible reports that over one million Uyghur Muslims have been held in re-education camps, and reports of widespread surveillance and restrictions targeted at ethnic minorities.

During China's Universal Periodic Review at the UN Human Rights Council on 6 November, the UK made a statement which described our concern about the treatment of ethnic minorities in China, including Uyghurs. We issued a specific recommendation, calling on China to not only implement the recommendations by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on Xinjiang, but also to allow the UN to monitor the implementation.

Ministers and senior officials have been raising our concerns directly with the Chinese authorities for some time, and will continue to do so. The Minister for Asia and the Pacific raised our concerns about Xinjiang with Vice Minister Guo Yezhou during his visit to China on 22 July 2018. The Foreign Secretary also raised our concerns about the region with Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his visit to China on 30 July 2018. We will also continue to discuss this issue with a range of countries.