- The Iona Institute - https://ionainstitute.ie -

Ronan Mullen motion on China and Uighurs passed

The Seanad has passed a motion condemning China for human rights violations [1] against Uighur Muslims and other minorities in Xinjiang province.

The resolution proposed by Senator Ronan Mullen noted the mass arrest and internment of at least one million Uighur men on arbitrary grounds without due process; physical and psychological abuse of those detained, including torture and forced labour; the forced separation of children from their families; forced re-education of children to compel them to abandon their language and culture; sustained surveillance and intimidation against the wider population; coercion of women to undergo abortions, sterilisations, and the insertion of intrauterine devices under threat of arrest and internment, as a means of controlling the population of the minority groups; and, sustained attacks upon the culture, language and religion of minority groups.

The motion, seconded by Senator Michael McDowell, called on the Government to condemn the practices unreservedly; and to call on China to bring to an immediate end to the measures and to allow United Nations human rights monitors to access detention centres in the region.

It also called for all available trade and diplomatic channels, including the United Nations Security Council, to insist on the observance of basic human rights protections for the Uyghur Muslim population and for all citizens of the People’s Republic of China.