Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Chinese counterpart on the treatment of Uyghur Muslims in that country.
Answered by Nigel Adams
We have repeatedly raised our deep concerns about the human rights situation in Xinjiang at senior levels with the Chinese government, including the Foreign Secretary raising directly with his Chinese counterpart, Foreign Minister and State Counsellor Wang Yi on a number of occasions. Through these regular representations we have underlined a wide range of specific concerns, including the extra-judicial detention of Uyghurs and other minorities and the credible reports of forced labour, torture and forced sterilisation.
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 report by Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy The Uyghur Genocide: An Examination of China’s Breaches of the 1948 Genocide Convention, published on 8 March; and what plans they have to discuss its findings with the authors of that report.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government has noted the findings of the report. We will continue to engage with a wide range of experts and review all available evidence to inform our understanding of the situation in Xinjiang and to guide policy development. The Government remains deeply concerned by the human rights violations occurring in the region and continues to play a leading role in holding China to account, including at the UN.
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 case for establishing an UN independent investigative mechanism to investigate the situation of Uighurs in China.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
It is vitally important that China grants unfettered access to Xinjiang for the UN Human Rights Commissioner or another independent fact finding body, without further delay. The Foreign Secretary made the UK position on this issue clear in a high level intervention at the Human Rights Council on 22 February.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Canadian counterpart on the vote in the Canadian Parliament to deem the actions of China on the Uighur population as genocide.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The Government remains gravely concerned about the human rights situation in Xinjiang. The UK plays a leading role in holding China to account for its human rights violations in the region, working closely with international partners, including Canada. We regularly discuss our concerns and related questions of policy with Canada, most recently in a call on 4 March 2021 between the Foreign Secretary and Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau. It is the long-standing policy of the British Government that any judgment as to whether genocide has occurred is a matter for a competent court.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
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 effect on UK security co-operation with Canada of the decision of the Canadian Parliament to deem the actions of China on the Uighur population as genocide.
Answered by Nigel Adams
We have taken note of the motion passed by the Canadian House of Commons relating to Xinjiang, though this has no impact on our security cooperation with Canada. The UK continues to play a leading role in holding China to account for its gross human rights abuses in Xinjiang, working closely with international partners including Canada. It is the long-standing policy of the British Government that any judgment as to whether genocide has occurred is a matter for a competent court, rather than for Governments or non-judicial bodies.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
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 implications for his policies of the decision of the Canadian Parliament to deem the actions of China on the Uighur population as genocide.
Answered by Nigel Adams
We have taken note of the motion passed by the Canadian House of Commons relating to Xinjiang. The UK continues to play a leading role in holding China to account for its gross human rights abuses in Xinjiang, working closely with international partners including Canada. It is the long-standing policy of the British Government that any judgment as to whether genocide has occurred is a matter for a competent court, rather than for Governments or non-judicial bodies.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of China about (1) the BBC report on the treatment of Uighur women in Xianjiang who said they had been subject to sexual violence in re-education camps, published on 2 February, and (2) its decision to ban BBC World News broadcasts; and what plans they have to raise these issues as a breach of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at the UN Human Rights Council.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As Minister Adams said in the House of Commons on 4 February, the BBC report of 3 February includes deeply distressing testimony of the rape, torture and dehumanisation of Uyghur women in Xinjiang detention centres. It is a further, compelling addition to the growing body of evidence of the gross human rights violations being perpetrated against Uyghur Muslims and other minorities in Xinjiang. The Government has raised the specific allegations in the BBC report with the Chinese Embassy in London. The Government has also raised China's decision to ban BBC World News in mainland China - an unacceptable curtailing of media freedom - directly with the Chinese authorities.
We continue to play a leading role in holding China to account for human rights violations, working closely with international partners, including at the UN. On 22 February, during his high level statement to the Human Rights Council, the Foreign Secretary underlined the need for urgent and unfettered access to Xinjiang for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights or another independent fact-finding expert.
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 motions passed by the Canadian House of Commons on 22 February and Dutch Parliament on 25 February to declare that the treatment of the Uighurs in Xinjiang amounts to a genocide; and what plans they have to make such a determination
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We have taken note of the motions passed by the Canadian House of Commons and the House of Representatives of the Netherlands relating to Xinjiang. The Government remains gravely concerned about the human rights situation in the region. We continue to play a leading role in holding China to account, working closely with international partners, including Canada and the Netherlands.
It is the long-standing policy of the British Government that any judgment as to whether genocide has occurred is a matter for a competent court, rather than for governments or non-judicial bodies.
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 recent assessment he has made of the effect of sending dignitaries to the 2022 Beijing Olympics in light of the human rights abuses being perpetrated by the Chinese Government in Xinjiang.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The UK is not normally in favour of sporting boycotts. No decisions have been made about Ministerial attendance at the Beijing Olympics in 2022, or any other Ministerial travel in 2022. Participation of the national team at the Winter Olympics is a matter for the British Olympic Association, who are required to operate independently of the government under International Olympic Committee regulations.
The Government remains gravely concerned about the human rights situation in Xinjiang. We continue to play a leading role in holding China to account for its human rights violations in the region, working closely with international partners, including at the UN.
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 representations he has made to the Chinese Government in response to recent reports of that government trying to silence Uyghur witnesses through intimidation.
Answered by Nigel Adams
We are 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. The Government regards such activity as unacceptable and has raised our concerns directly with the Chinese Embassy in London. The FCDO continues to monitor the situation closely and we urge anyone affected in the UK to contact the police.