Parliament must act to curb genocide
Friday February 19 2021
Around one million Uyghur Muslims are being held in “re-education camps” in Xinjiang, China. There are daily reports of beatings, solitary confinement, sexual abuse, forced labour, torture, starvation, brainwashing, and forced sterilisation.
On 22nd March Parliament will be voting on an amendment to the Trade Bill that would mean that:
- A Parliamentary Judicial Committee (consisting of a panel of five judges in the House of Lords) would have the power to examine the evidence and declare if a genocide is taking place in a certain country.
- This committee would then have the power to trigger a vote in Parliament on whether to scrap trade deals with the country in question.
If passed, this legislation would allow the UK to, not only officially recognise when a genocide is taking place, but also hold that country to account.
The Government has now proposed an alternative amendment, the Neill Amendment. However, this amendment only applies to “prospective” free trade agreements, not existing agreements. Therefore, it does nothing to help the Uyghurs as China has an existing deal. Indeed, the Government seems committed to ensuring that its trade deals with China are not impacted by humanitarian and moral objections to genocide.
There is not much time to act!
GET INVOLVED! Tell your MP to vote in favour of the Lords’ amendment and reject the Neill amendment when the bill returns to the House of Commons!
Step one
Find your MP here.
Step two
Send them an email using the below template.
Don’t forget to include your name and postcode in the subject line!
“Dear [NAME],
I am writing to you as your constituent to raise my deep concern surrounding the Government’s recent narrow defeat of amendments to the Trade Bill that would have outlawed trade deals with countries that the High Court rules are committing genocide, such as China against the Uyghur population.
To my understanding, there is now a new amendment that would mean that:
• A Parliamentary Judicial Committee would have the power to examine the evidence and declare if a genocide is taking place in a certain country.
• This committee would then have the power to trigger a vote in Parliament on whether to scrap trade deals with the country in question.
Meanwhile, the Government has proposed an alternative amendment, the Neill Amendment. This amendment is fundamentally flawed, particularly because it only applies to “prospective” free trade agreements, not existing agreements. Therefore, it does nothing to help the Uyghurs as China has an existing deal. Indeed, the Government seems committed to ensuring that its trade deals with China are not impacted by humanitarian and moral objections to genocide.
When the bill returns to the House of Commons, it is essential that you reject the Neill amendment and vote in favour of the Lords’ amendment as it provides a way to, not only officially recognise the atrocities taking place in countries such as China, but also hold these countries to account.
As your constituent, I urge you to take a firm stance on this matter and unequivocally ensure that heinous acts such as those currently being committed against China’s Uyghur population will not be tolerated.
I would appreciate confirmation of your intentions in this matter.
Yours Faithfully,
[NAME]
[POSTCODE]
”