Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the implications for its polices of reports of the Chinese government’s forced residential school system in Tibet; if he will takes steps to raise that issue at the G7 Summit on 19 to 21 May 2023; and if he will make a statement.

We are aware of reports that Tibetan parents are being coerced into sending their children to boarding schools in Tibet with no access to traditional Tibetan learning. In March 2023 we raised the issue of boarding schools in our Item 4 statement at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), and in June 2022 a UK-led lobbying effort helped to secure the support of 46 other countries for a joint statement at the HRC which highlighted the situation in Tibet. On 18 April 2023 a G7 Foreign Ministers Communiqué noted that all G7 countries continue to raise concerns with China on human rights violations, including on Tibet. We will continue to work with international partners and press China to cease human rights violations.