Skip to main content

China: Uyghurs

Question for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

UIN HL13115, tabled on 8 February 2021

To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of China about reports of human rights abuses against Uighur people including the use of (1) detention camps, (2) forced labour, (3) torture, (4) rape, and (5) sterilisation.

Answered on

22 February 2021

We have repeatedly raised our deep concerns about the human rights situation in Xinjiang at senior levels with the Chinese Government, including the Foreign Secretary raising directly with his Chinese counterpart, Foreign Minister and State Counsellor Wang Yi on a number of occasions in the past year. Through these representations we have underlined a wide range of specific concerns, including the extra-judicial detention of Uyghurs and other minorities and the credible reports of forced labour, torture, rape and forced sterilisation.

The UK has also repeatedly taken a leading international role in holding China to account for these human rights violations, including at the UN. For example, in a joint statement at the UN General Assembly Third Committee in October 2020, alongside Germany, we brought together a total of 39 countries to express grave concern at the situation in Xinjiang, referenced detention camps and reports of forced labour and forced sterilisation. The UK's national, Item 4 statement at the UN Human Rights Council in September 2020 also underlined our concern about these issues.