Some of you may have seen the news earlier this week that China has imposed sanctions on nine British citizens – including five Conservative Members of Parliament – for speaking out about the human rights abuses against the Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang – which include mass detention and surveillance, reports of torture, and forced sterilisation.
It's clear this was done in retaliation to Britain using our Magnitsky sanctions regime to target those responsible for the ongoing atrocities. Magnitsky sanctions are named in honour of Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian tax lawyer who uncovered a $230 million fraud committed by Russian government officials. Magnitsky testified against the officials and was arrested, tortured and died in a Moscow jail.
The sanctions are designed to target those responsible for gross human rights abuses worldwide. I was lucky to actually work on our Magnitsky sanctions legislation in Britain and promote the work of Bill Browder in Parliament, the driving force behind the introduction of this system across several countries.
Britain has a proud history of standing up to human rights abusers, and I welcome the commitment by the Foreign Secretary, who has done so much himself to champion Magnitsky sanctions, to ensure that Britain stands with our allies in the US, Canada and the EU to sanction those responsible for what's happening in Xinjiang.
As the Government has said repeatedly, if Beijing wants to credibly rebut claims of human rights abuses, it should allow the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights full access to verify the truth.
