Resolution on the human rights situation in Xinjiang, including the Xinjiang police files

The European Parliament adopted a resolution on the human rights situation in Xinjiang, including the Xinjiang police files.

The text adopted in plenary was tabled by the EPP, S&D, Renew, Greens/EFA and ECR groups.

The Xinjiang police files were examined by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and a number of international media outlets, including the BBC, Spain’s El Pais, France’s Le Monde and Germany’s Der Spiegel. These files documented in detail the systematic, brutal and arbitrary repression of the Uyghur community and other ethnic Turkic people in the Uyghur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang.

Parliament strongly condemned the fact that the Uyghur community in China has been systematically oppressed by brutal measures, including mass deportation, political indoctrination, family separation, restrictions on religious freedom, cultural destruction and the extensive use of surveillance. It also highlighted the credible evidence about birth prevention measures and the separation of Uyghur children from their families amount to crimes against humanity and represent a serious risk of genocide.

In this regard, Parliament called on the Chinese Government to:

- cease all government-sponsored programmes of forced labour and mass forced sterilisation and to put an immediate end to any measures aimed at preventing births in the Uyghur population, including forced abortions or sanctions for birth control violations;

- put an immediate end to the practice of arbitrary detention without charge, trial or conviction for criminal offences targeted against Uyghurs and other ethnic Turkic peoples, to close all camps and detention centres, and to immediately and unconditionally release those detained, and to reunite the Uyghur children who are forcibly placed in state-run boarding facilities, with their parents.

The resolution called on EU and Member States to:

- take all necessary steps to put an end to these atrocities and ensure responsibility for the crimes committed, including through international accountability mechanisms;

- adopt additional sanctions targeting Chinese high-ranking officials identified in the Xinjiang police files;

- urgently identify and mitigate the risks related to Chinese foreign interference;

- suspend their extradition treaties with China and Hong Kong.

Lastly, Parliament seeks a proposal from the Commission to propose an import ban on all products produced by forced labour and on products produced by all Chinese companies listed as exploiting forced labour. Parliament reiterated its position in favour of an ambitious corporate sustainability due diligence directive to ensure EU companies take action against human rights breaches.