On 3 July 2018, The Rights Practice helped to organise a Parliamentary Round-table on increased repression and forced assimilation in Xinjiang, China. The All-Party Parliamentary Human Rights Group invited parliamentarians to the round-table, in which Nicola Macbean, Executive Director of The Rights Practice, gave opening remarks on the gross human rights violations taking place in Xinjiang and the implications this has for everyone involved in China.

Dr. Rachel Harris, SOAS, University of London, spoke on the Chinese government policy towards Uyghur culture in Xinjiang, one of the most heavily policed areas in the world, and described the widening of the anti-extremism campaign.

Dr. Adrian Zenz, European School of Culture and Theology, Germany, outlined the evidence of a large scale and sophisticated political re-education network designed to detain people for long periods of time and which the Chinese government officially denies.

This was followed by a moving personal testimony given by Rahima Mahmut, Uyghur singer and human rights activist, about the violations suffered by the Uyghur community, they fear mass detention and ill treatment. The exiled Uyghur community have been unable to contact family members for over a year.

The roundtable was chaired by Catherine West MP and attended by other parliamentarians, NGOs, academics and members of the Uyghur community. It ended with a discussion about how the international community should respond and the action that needs to take place.

For more information see the event handout

Also see The Rights Practice concerns to the 96th session of the CERD - International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

Banner Image: Re-education Camp in Qaghiliq County, satellite image of the same site from August 6, 2017 to April 23, 2018. (8 large buildings ca. 70,000sqm floor size plus smaller buildings, bid: 82,000sqm), compiled by Adrian Zenz, images are from Google Earth