UK political parties urged to recognise Uighur genocide if they win election

A campaign group has written to Labour, the Conservatives, and Lib Dems urging them to act as a stronger voice against Beijing on the matter.

Flags flown during a demonstration in Parliament Square, London, held ahead of a House of Commons debate, bought by backbench MP Nus Ghani, on whether Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang province are suffering crimes against humanity and genocide. Picture date: Thursday April 22, 2021. (PA Archive)

UK political parties have been urged to formally recognise that China’s Uighur (also known as Uyghur) ethnic minority group are being subject to a genocide if they win the General Election.

Campaign group Stop Uyghur Genocide has written to Labour, the Liberal Democrats, and the Conservative Party asking them to address critical issues of profound importance to the Uighur community during the election, and commit to taking appropriate action in government”.

The letter, signed by Rahima Mahmut, the campaign group’s executive director, and Maira Aisaeva, president of the UK Uyghur Community, calls on the next government to “raise the alarm for the community and bring international pressure against the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) to end the genocide”.

“This starts with a formal recognition of the genocide by the UK Government,” it adds.

The next government should instigate an import ban on products which might be linked to slave labour in China’s Xinjiang province, the homeland of the Uighurs, the letter says.

It also calls for the UK’s modern slavery laws to be bolstered, and for the UK to stand against emerging technologies reportedly being used for “forced genetic surveillance and discrimination”.

In their manifesto, the Liberal Democrats have already pledged to recognise “that the human rights abuses being perpetrated against the Uighurs in Xinjiang amount to the crime of genocide”.

The Conservatives made no explicit mention of the topic in their full election offer, but senior Tory figures including former minister Sir Iain Duncan Smith, have spoken in Parliament in recent years about the Uighurs’ treatment by the Chinese state.

Labour is expected to release its manifesto on Thursday.

Ms Mahmut, Stop Uyghur Genocide executive director, told the PA News Agency: “As an Uighur rights campaigner, I am pleased to see the Liberal Democrats recognise the Uighur genocide in their manifesto.

“This is a crucial step towards justice and accountability, and I urge the other main parties to follow suit.

“Recognising the Uighur genocide is vital to any considered China strategy, as it would enable the government, industry, and academia to align against Chinese private sector companies complicit in the genocide.”