To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, for what reason the Government has not formally designated actions by the Chinese state against the Uyghur Muslim communities as genocide.
Answered on
6 June 2022
We are clear that China's actions in Xinjiang represent gross violations of human rights, for which China must be held to account. However it is the long-standing policy of the British Government not to make determinations in relation to genocide. Genocide is a crime and there must be no impunity for it. As with other crimes, judgment should be made after all available evidence has been considered by a competent court. The UK has led international efforts to hold China to account at the UN, imposed sanctions on senior Chinese Government officials, and announced measures to help ensure no UK organisations are complicit in these violations through their supply chains. We will continue to act with our international partners to increase the pressure on China to change its behaviour.