From today, the Chinese Communist Party can be under no illusion that their card is marked. They are perpetuating a genocide against the Uyghur people.
Forced sterilisation, birth control imposed on tens of thousands of Uyghur women, detention camps to treat the so-called pathology of religion, forced organ harvesting, rape, children ripped from their families, torture and DNA databases.
The Foreign Secretary’s announcement of sanctions against four individuals responsible for serious human rights abuses and the Public Security Bureau of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps today is absolutely right - and it is right we act as a unified international community against genocide.
Today’s actions make clear we will stand up for religious freedom of belief. This matters, including for us in Rutland and Melton, because residents of our community have faced persecution while in China.
The UK cannot and will not sit by and watch this happen. But we must continue to consider further action if this does not end the atrocities.
The Regime in China is engaged in an industrialised eradication of a people. The world is watching and the world is taking action.
Further actions I’d welcome:
- UN Human Rights Council to establish special rapporteur on Uyghur & Minorities in China
- Create a FCDO-funded Security & Justice Fund for Xinjiang to enable tracing of the missing and collection of evidence for later trials of the responsible
- Establish improved international controls & monitoring of organ donations
- Challenge social media firms on the censorship of human rights atrocities being perpetrated
- Review whether British companies are providing equipment that assists China’s surveillance & ban exports
