Never Again: The UK’s Responsibility to Act on Atrocities in Xinjiang and Beyond Contents

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7Conclusion

Box 16: Letter from a ‘re-educated’ relative

After all, didn’t our great and generous Party say that they would, in their loving kindness, offer these training centres to quickly wash clean the poison that bad-intentioned people had planted in the victimised common folk, returning us to our families soon after?

Source: Confidential

67.In a wider context, when in 2001 the People’s Republic of China was accepted into the World Trade Organization (following its admission to the UN Security Council in 1971 and the recognition of its national Olympic Committee by the IOC in 1979), it was expected that this would lead to less repression within China and a general improvement in international relations. It has not. In recent years, the Chinese government has tested and challenged the way we trade and engage with each other to breaking point, undermining the fundamental principles that have ensured peace and stability, and which were written by those envoys from the states that had so suffered in the Second World War, including China. It is incumbent on all countries and governments that support this system to find innovative ways of working together to hold powerful nations to account for their actions. Xinjiang is one example of what happens when states are allowed to act with impunity. We must ensure that this does not set a dangerous precedent.

68.While we commend the ongoing work of the UK Government in speaking out and leading on the issue of Xinjiang at the United Nations, we are concerned that its actions do not match its rhetoric and have so far proved ineffective. A crisis of this scale requires a cross-government, cross-sectoral, international approach. In this report, we have made recommendations on multilateral action, private sector reforms, the support required for members of persecuted diaspora, and the Government’s approach to atrocity prevention. The implementation of these recommendations will provide a much more robust and comprehensive Government response to the Xinjiang crisis, ensuring that all support possible is given to the people suffering from identity-based persecution.