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Written Question
Xinjiang: Uyghurs
Monday 29th January 2024

Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of China regarding the treatment of Uighurs and other Turkic people in Xinjiang.

Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK continues to lead international efforts to hold China to account for its human rights violations. In March 2021, we imposed sanctions on four individuals and one entity for their involvement in the egregious violations taking place in Xinjiang, acting with 29 other countries. Sanctions are just one tool at our disposal. At the UN, we were the first country to lead a joint statement on human rights violations in Xinjiang in 2019 and last year we led another joint statement, which had a record number of signatories. We have taken action to tackle forced labour in supply chains, for example, guidance to UK businesses and enhanced export controls. Bilaterally, we continue to raise China's human rights violations with the Chinese authorities at the highest levels - the Foreign Secretary raised the situation in Xinjiang during his first call with China's Foreign Minister in December last year.


Written Question
China: Uighurs
Wednesday 15th December 2021

Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the treatment of Uyghur Christians in Xianjaing, China.

Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

We remain deeply concerned about restrictions on freedom of religion or belief in China, including the persecution on the grounds of their religion or belief. The freedom to practise, change or share ones faith or belief without discrimination or violent opposition is a human right that all people should enjoy.

We regularly raise our concerns about human rights with the Chinese authorities. The Prime Minister did so in a telephone call with President Xi on 29 October, as did the Foreign Secretary in her introductory call with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on 22 October.


Written Question
China: Uighurs
Thursday 9th December 2021

Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the accuracy of reports that subsidiaries of BGI Group companies conducted genetic analyses of China’s minority Uighurs; and if she will take steps to backlist those companies.

Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

We are aware of reports that subsidiaries of Chinese headquartered genome sequencing company BGI Group cooperated with the Chinese government on the collection of genetic information in Xinjiang.

On 12 January 2021, the UK Government announced a series of robust measures in respect of UK supply chains to help ensure that no British organisations - government or private sector, deliberately or inadvertently - are profiting from or contributing to human rights violations against the Uyghurs or other minorities in Xinjiang. These measures include a review of export controls as they apply to Xinjiang, the introduction of financial penalties for organisations that fail to comply with their obligations under the Modern Slavery Act, and new, robust guidance to UK businesses on the specific risks faced by companies with links to the region.


Written Question
China: Uighurs
Thursday 21st October 2021

Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of recent reports of the alleged torture of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, China; and what discussions she has had with her Chinese counterpart on those reports of alleged torture.

Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The Government is deeply concerned about the systematic human rights violations being perpetrated in Xinjiang, including disturbing reports of torture of Uyghur Muslims. We have led international efforts to hold China to account for its actions, leading the first two statements on Xinjiang at the UN and utilising our diplomatic network to raise the issue up the international agenda. In March, the UK announced sanctions against four Chinese officials and an entity responsible for the egregious human rights violations taking place. In January, the Government also announced a series of measures to help ensure that British organisations are not complicit in, nor profiting from, the human rights violations in the region. We will continue to take robust action, including by raising our concerns directly with the Chinese authorities.


Written Question
Uighurs: China
Monday 18th October 2021

Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for asylum from Chinese nationals of the Uyghur minority have been rejected by her Department since 1 January 2017; and how many of those applicants her Department deported as a result of their asylum application being so rejected.

Answered by Kevin Foster

The Home Office are unable to state how many applications for asylum from Chinese nationals of the Uyghur minority were received, granted or rejected since 1 January 2017, or how many Uyghur minority people are resident in the UK having been granted asylum as this as the data is only held on paper case files or within the notes sections of the Home Office's databases. Therefore, the information requested is not held in a reportable format.

However, the Home Office publishes information on asylum applications and resettlement in the Immigration statistics quarterly release. Data on asylum applicants being refused any form of leave and then subsequently being returned to either their home country or a safe third country are published in table Asy_D04 of the asylum and resettlement detailed datasets; available breakdowns include year of application and nationality.

The latest data relates to 2020 and can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/asylum-and-resettlement-datasets


Written Question
Uighurs: China
Monday 18th October 2021

Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for asylum from Chinese nationals of the Uyghur minority were (a) received and (b) granted by her Department in (i) 2017, (ii) 2018, (iii) 2019 and (iv) 2020; and how many Uyghur minority people are resident in the UK having been granted asylum by the UK.

Answered by Kevin Foster

The Home Office are unable to state how many applications for asylum from Chinese nationals of the Uyghur minority were received, granted or rejected since 1 January 2017, or how many Uyghur minority people are resident in the UK having been granted asylum as this as the data is only held on paper case files or within the notes sections of the Home Office's databases. Therefore, the information requested is not held in a reportable format.

However, the Home Office publishes information on asylum applications and resettlement in the Immigration statistics quarterly release. Data on asylum applicants being refused any form of leave and then subsequently being returned to either their home country or a safe third country are published in table Asy_D04 of the asylum and resettlement detailed datasets; available breakdowns include year of application and nationality.

The latest data relates to 2020 and can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/asylum-and-resettlement-datasets


Written Question
Uighurs: China
Monday 18th October 2021

Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many instances of harassment by the Chinese authorities towards Uyghur individuals resident in the UK have been reported to the police since January 2017.

Answered by Kit Malthouse

The Home Office does not hold these statistics, but is aware of reports of members of the Uyghur diaspora - including in the UK - being harassed by the Chinese authorities in an effort to intimidate them into silence, force them to return to China, or co-opt them into providing information on other Uyghurs. HMG takes a zero-tolerance approach to harassment of individuals based on ethnicity. We will continue to work closely with our international allies to protect Uyghurs and other minorities resident in the UK, and we urge anyone affected in the UK to contact the police.


Written Question
China: Uighurs
Monday 26th July 2021

Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what (a) plans he has to increase and (b) criteria he uses to assess the effectiveness of sanctions against China in response to the persecution of the Uyghur Muslim community.

Answered by Nigel Adams

The sanctions announced by the Foreign Secretary in March imposed asset freezes and travel bans on four senior Chinese officials and one entity responsible for the egregious human rights violations taking place in Xinjiang. By acting with 29 other countries on an agreed set of designations, we increased the reach and impact of these measures and sent the clearest possible signal of the international community's serious concern and collective willingness to act. Sanctions remain one response among a number of diplomatic tools that we deploy around the world to help achieve the UK's foreign policy goals. We consider them to be most effective when backed by co-ordinated, collective action, as we took in March. We continue to keep all evidence and potential listings under close review.


Written Question
China: Uighurs
Monday 26th July 2021

Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he has taken to review the effectiveness of the sanctions he has applied to China in response to the persecution of the Uyghur Muslim community.

Answered by Nigel Adams

The sanctions announced by the Foreign Secretary in March imposed asset freezes and travel bans on four senior Chinese officials and one entity responsible for the egregious human rights violations taking place in Xinjiang. By acting with 29 other countries on an agreed set of designations, we increased the reach and impact of these measures and sent the clearest possible signal of the international community's serious concern and collective willingness to act. Sanctions remain one response among a number of diplomatic tools that we deploy around the world to help achieve the UK's foreign policy goals. We consider them to be most effective when backed by co-ordinated, collective action, as we took in March. We continue to keep all evidence and potential listings under close review.


Written Question
China: Uighurs
Monday 5th July 2021

Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the credibility of new evidence submitted to the International Criminal Court in June regarding alleged forced deportations of Uyghurs to China from other countries; and what plans they have to publicly oppose the deportation of Uyghurs to China from (1) Turkey, (2) Kazakhstan, (3) Tajikistan, and (4) other states.

Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK continues to take a global leadership role in standing up for the rights of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang. We have repeatedly called on countries to respect their obligations not to force persons to return to a country where there are substantial grounds for believing they would be in danger of fundamental rights violations.

British diplomats - working closely with likeminded partners - have intervened privately at senior levels with host governments on behalf of Uyghurs who have been at risk of refoulement to China. We also encourage all states, including Turkey, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, to uphold their international human rights obligations.