Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Chinese authorities’ treatment of Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang region; whether they raised this issue during the 40th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC); and what discussions were held during the UNHRC session on the establishment of an independent international fact-finding mission to Xinjiang.

We have serious concerns about the human rights situation in Xinjiang and the Chinese Government’s deepening crackdown; including credible reports that over one million Uyghur Muslims have been held in re-education camps, and reports of widespread surveillance and restrictions targeted at ethnic minorities. Visits to Xinjiang by diplomats from our Embassy in Beijing have corroborated much of this open source reporting.

At the most recent session of the UN Human Rights Council, I raised our concerns about Xinjiang during my opening address. The UK also raised concerns about Xinjiang during our Item 4 National Statement and we were among a group of states to co-sponsor a US-led side event on the topic.

We were aware of calls by non-governmental organisations for the establishment of an independent international fact-finding mission to Xinjiang but no state took this up at the Human Rights Council. We believe that China should grant access to Xinjiang to independent international human rights mechanisms and implement the recommendations of the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). We reiterated these points both in the formal session of the Human Rights Council and in the US-led side event through our Permanent Representative in Geneva.