After an Urgent Question on the Treatment of Uyghur Women in Xinjiang Detention Camps, Member of Parliament for the Cities of London & Westminster, Nickie Aiken, asked the following follow-up question to the Minister of State for Asia, Nigel Adams.
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Wealden (Ms Ghani) on securing this urgent question.
The Minister may be aware that I am Vice-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative.
Does he agree that there is a need to set up a PSVI body to document crimes, support survivors and lead prosecutions and that China must allow such a body of independent observers unfettered access to Xinjiang—or East Turkestan, as it is also known—so that they can report on what is occurring there?
The Minister responded,
I thank my hon. Friend for the work that she does on the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative APPG, and I would like to wish her a happy birthday.
We have made it clear that the UN Human Rights Commissioner or another independent fact-finding body must be given unfettered access to Xinjiang.
We have called for that repeatedly in joint statements and national statements at the UN.
It is vital that China allows such access without delay. If, as China claims today, these allegations are mere fabrications or fake news, how can it object to granting access?
You can watch Nickie’s exchange with the Minister above.
