Seimas adopts a resolution on the Uighur situation in China

Press release, 20 May 2021

The Resolution of the Seimas strongly condemns the mass, systematic and grave violations of human rights and crimes against humanity committed by China.

‘An extrajudicial detention programme has been established in China for arbitrarily detaining over a million of Uyghurs who are being forced to undergo political re-education, without being charged or tried. They are exposed to torture and ill-treatment; a policy of strict restrictions on religious practices and the Uyghur language and customs has been developed. Children are taken away from their families not because their parents were bad or used violence against them, but because parents dared to go to their religious institution or not to shave their beard. That is why children who have been taken away from their parents, are placed in state-run orphanages or boarding schools. A network of invasive digital surveillance has been developed, including facial recognition technology and data collection,’ said Dovilė Šakalienė, Member of the Seimas, who was one of the initiators of the Resolution.

The Resolution stresses that the harvesting of the organs from non-consenting political prisoners and prisoners of conscience and their potential killing in China for the purpose of selling their organs are intolerable crimes against humanity.

It also states that pursuant to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, China is currently committing genocide against Uyghurs.

The Resolution calls on the United Nations to launch a legal investigation into the Uyghur genocide in Xinjiang internment camps.

The European Parliament and the European Commission are called on to review the European Union policy on cooperation with China and to formulate a clear position on China’s mass, systematic and grave violations of human rights, crimes against humanity and the Uyghur genocide.

The Resolution calls on the Chinese authorities to put an immediate end to the illegal practice of organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience, release all prisoners of conscience in China, including practitioners of the spiritual Falun Gong movement, stop the genocide against Uyghurs and close the ‘re-education’ camps, release all detainees and prisoners currently held in detention and forced labour camps; also to revoke the national security law on Hong Kong, withdraw its forces from Hong Kong and put an end to the restrictions on freedom of expression and political rights and allow access for independent human rights experts to Tibetan areas and open a dialogue with Dalai Lama on the preservation of cultural and religious heritage and the restoration of religious freedom of Tibet.

Resolution on China’s mass, systematic and gross violations of human rights and genocide against Uighurs (draft Law No XIVP-511) was adopted by 86 votes in favour, with one against and 7 abstentions.

Saulė Eglė Trembo, Chief Specialist, Press Office, Information and Communication Department, tel. +370 5 239 6203, e-mail: [email protected]