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Labour MP for Birmingham Ladywood, will tomorrow (9 September) call on the Foreign Secretary to lead an international effort to liberate the persecuted Uighur Muslim minority living in China.

Over 1 million Uighur and other Turkic Muslims are now thought to be forcibly detained by the Chinse Government at internment camps in Xinjiang province in Western China.

Alongside the mounting global outrage at the authoritarian actions of the ruling Chinese Communist Party and the superpower’s President, Xi Jinping, Mahmood will call for “robust and decisive action” from the UK Government and wider international community.

Shabana will lead a debate on the issues facing the Uighur population in Parliament on Wednesday (9 September), where she will highlight the swelling “litany of evidence” against the Chinese state in a bid to galvanise action to bring an end to the human rights abuses.

As part of the debate, Shabana will put forward the legal routes which are open to the international community, which were recently outlined by the Car Human Rights Committee. The Birmingham Ladywood MP will also draw fresh parallels between the global response to the plight of the Rohingya population in Myanmar and raise questions as to why similar efforts are not yet being mounted on behalf of the Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang.

Ahead of the debate, Labour MP for Birmingham Ladywood, Shabana Mahmood, said:

“Countless Uighur and other Turkic Muslims are living day after day in a cycle of deathly fear. In fact, “living” is probably the wrong word – for many Uighurs, survival has become their watchword.

“The incarceration and systemic abuse the Uighur population in Xinjiang is facing has all the hallmarks of heading towards becoming the single biggest genocide since the Second World War.

“While the options for action may be limited, that does not mean we should follow a path of inaction. The UK Government has bared its teeth as democracy is dismantled at pace in Hong Kong. The Foreign Secretary can – and must – lead the charge to forge a path towards the Uighurs freedom.”

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

  1. Shabana’s Adjournment Debate on “The Detention of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang” will take place in the House of Commons Chamber on 09/09/2020. It will be the last item of business of the day and will likely take place between 5pm-8pm, depending on the number of urgent questions and departmental statements.
  2. Bar Human Rights Committee legal routes on Uighurs: https://www.barhumanrights.org.uk/bhrc-publishes-new-report-outlining-the-responsibility-of-states-under-international-law-to-uyghurs-and-other-turkic-muslims-in-xinjiang-china/.
  3. For further information or comment, please contact Will Hingley on 07880 231914.
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