On Wednesday 22 July, the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales (BHRC), the All Party Parliamentary Human Rights Group (PHRG) and the APPG on Uyghurs were pleased to host an online panel event to launch BHRC’s new high-level report: The Responsibility of States under International Law to Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims.
Allegations of atrocities and persecution of Uyghur and other Turkic Muslim minorities in Xinjiang by China have been widely and credibly reported. These allegations include the mass surveillance and arbitrary detention of over 1 million Uyghurs and members of other Turkic Muslim minority groups, torture and inhuman treatment of detainees, enforced birth control practices including forced abortion and sterilisation, enforced separation of children from their parents, the denial of peoples’ rights to practice their religion or speak their language, and forced labour.
As a member of the global community and in accordance with our international obligations, the UK must take all available measures to prevent and seek to end human rights violations. As China is increasingly in the global eye following its recent actions in Hong Kong and elsewhere, it is time for the UK to consider a joined-up response to these egregious violations of international law.
Speakers included:
- Schona Jolly QC, BHRC Chair, to present the findings of the report.
- Nicola Macbean, Director, The Rights Practice.
- Rahima Mehmut, London-based Uyghur singer, award-winning translator, and human rights activist.
- Adrian Zenz, Senior Fellow in China Studies at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, Washington, D.C.
- Alistair Carmichael MP, Co-Chair of the APPG on Uyghurs
The Q&A session, which included Mr Carmichael’s contribution, was not recorded.
