Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what response they have received from the government of China to representations they have made to that government about the detention in Xinjiang of Uighurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Hui and other minorities; whether British or UN diplomats have sought, and been given, permission to visit detention camps; and if so, what was their assessment of those camps.

We have serious concerns about the human rights situation in Xinjiang and the Chinese Government's deepening crackdown; including credible reports that over 1 million Uyghur Muslims have been held in re-education camps, and reports of widespread surveillance and restrictions targeted at ethnic minorities. Visits to Xinjiang by diplomats from our Embassy in Beijing have corroborated much of this open source reporting.

Ministers and senior officials have been raising our concerns directly with the Chinese authorities for some time, and will continue to do so. At the 40th session of the UN Human Rights Council which ran from February to March 2019, I raised our concerns about Xinjiang during my opening address (on 25 February). The UK also raised concerns about Xinjiang during our item 4 statement on 12 March, and we co-sponsored a side event on "Protecting the fundamental freedoms in Xinjiang" on 13 March.

The Minister for Asia and the Pacific raised our concerns about Xinjiang with Vice Minister Guo Yezhou during my 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.

During China's Universal Periodic Review at the UN Human Rights Council on 6 November 2018, the UK made a statement which described our concerns about the treatment of ethnic minorities in China, including Uyghurs.

Following the Universal Periodic Review, I issued a statement where I said: "I am very concerned about the human rights situation in Xinjiang, including the re-education camps and the widespread surveillance and restrictions targeted at ethnic minorities, particularly the Uyghurs. The UK and many of our international partners have made clear during China's UPR that this is a priority issue. We recommended that China should implement CERD recommendations in Xinjiang and allow the UN to monitor implementation."