On Thursday 10 October, the European Parliament adopted, by 540 votes to 23 with 47 abstentions, a joint resolution by the EPP, S&D, ECR, Renew Europe and Greens/EFA groups condemning the detention of prominent Uyghurs in China, including economist and human rights activist Ilham Tohti (see EUROPE 13488/16) and Gulshan Abbas, a retired doctor from the Xinjiang Oil Field Company Ming Yuan Workers Hospital.
In this resolution, the European Parliament calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Mr Tohti and Ms Abbas and of all those arbitrarily detained in China.
The institution is asking the Member States to adopt additional sanctions against senior officials and entities involved in human rights violations in China.
It also demands that the Chinese authorities put an end to the repression and targeting of Uyghurs through abusive policies such as “intense surveillance, forced labour, sterilisation, birth prevention measures and the destruction of Uyghur identity”.
Parliament also condemns human rights violations against the people of Tibet, Hong Kong, Macao and mainland China.
To see the resolution, go to https://aeur.eu/f/dtf (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)