Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his Department’s policies in relation to human rights in China of the (a) 30 witness testimonies and (b) publicly available reading list for Tribunal members presented during the December public hearings of the ongoing China Tribunal.

We are aware of reports that allege that organ harvesting may be taking place in China, including suggestions that minority and religious groups are being specifically targeted. The British government continues to take these reports extremely seriously.

These reports include the 2016 update to the Kilgour, Matas and Gutmann report and other information provided so far, including witness testimonies, to the ongoing tribunal organised by the International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China and chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice QC. Foreign and Commonwealth Ofiice officials attended the final day of the opening session of the Tribunal and continue to review new information as it becomes available, including from Non-Governemtnal Organisations, activists and likeminded countries.

At present, however, our assessment is that there is not a strong enough evidential base to substantiate the claim that systematic state-sponsored or sanctioned organ harvesting is taking place in China.