China: Uighurs

(asked on 23rd March 2020) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his Chinese counterpart on (a) closing the re-education camps in Xinjiang and (b) protecting elderly people detained in those camps from covid-19.


Answered by
Nigel Adams Portrait
Nigel Adams
This question was answered on 21st April 2020

Following the change to date for answer of this PQ, I submitted a response by email on 26 March, with the following response.The Table Office have agreed this approach.

The risk of the spread of COVID-19 in places of detention is a matter of concern in a number of countries around the world.

We have consistently made clear our serious concerns about the human rights situation in Xinjiang, including the extra-judicial detention of over a million Uyghur Muslims and other minorities in "political re-education camps".

On 9 March, the Foreign Secretary directly raised these concerns with his Chinese counterpart, State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi. On 10 March at the 43rd session of the UN Human Rights Council, the UK used its national statement to raise concerns about systematic human rights violations and reports of forced labour in Xinjiang. We continue to urge China to implement UN recommendations - to end the practice of extra-judicial detention of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities, and to allow UN observers unfettered access to the region.

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