European Parliament (EP) adopted its harshest language yet in response to China’s Xinjiang province’s persistent egregious human rights violations, calling them “crimes against humanity and severe risk of genocide.”
“The Uyghur population in the People’s Republic of China has been relentlessly persecuted by ruthless tactics such as mass deportation, political indoctrination, family separation, religious freedom limitations, cultural devastation, and pervasive use of surveillance,” the EP says.
Additional sanctions, according to the EP, should be imposed on Chinese high-ranking officials such as Chen Quanguo, Zhao Kezhi, Guo Shengkun, and Hu Lianhe. They urged the remaining EU members to suspend extradition arrangements with China and Hong Kong.
An import ban on all products made with forced labour, as well as products made by all Chinese enterprises classified as employing forced labour, is also on the Parliament’s list of measures to be adopted, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC).
Finally, the EP sought the release of the long-awaited report on human rights violations in Xinjiang by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
IPAC, an international cross-party group of legislators, praised the European Parliament’s “strong and united voice” and expressed optimism that the European Commission and member states will heed the call to action.
After the resolution was passed IPAC Co-Chair Reinhard Butikofer MEP remarked, “The Chinese government’s assertion that its so-called “vocational training centres” are for re-education purposes has been exposed as a lie by the Xinjiang Police Files. These publications add to a growing amount of evidence that the Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities in China are subjected to totalitarian repression.”
“The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’ report into the atrocities taking place in the region must be released as soon as possible, and the EU can lead the way in holding those responsible for these practices accountable,” he added.
