On Thursday, the French Assembly adopted a resolution that officially recognises China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims as “genocide”, a crime against humanity. With the resolution, France has joined other Western nations in officially condemning China’s treatment of the Uyghur Muslims.
The resolution read, “The National Assembly officially recognises the violence perpetrated by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) against the Uyghurs as constituting crimes against humanity and genocide.”
The resolution further called on the French government to adopt necessary measures within the international community and its foreign policy towards the PRC to protect minorities in China’s Xinjiang province.
#BREAKING: French National Assembly votes to recognise Uyghurs as victims of Genocide.
— Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (@ipacglobal) January 20, 2022
France joins the 🇺🇸 and parliaments of 🇨🇦🇬🇧🇳🇱🇱🇹 in declaring a Genocide taking place in the Uyghur Region.
The motion was co-sponsored by #IPAC 🇫🇷 member @DumasFrederique. pic.twitter.com/d61hlnmijN
Socialist party chief Olivier Faure said, “China is a great power. We love the Chinese people. But we refuse to submit to propaganda from a regime that is banking on our cowardice and our avarice to perpetrate genocide in plain sight.”
Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade Franck Riester referred to systematic violence and damning testimony from Uyghurs on Thursday and argued that the formal recognition of genocide was a matter for international organisations, instead of national governments. Riester added that the genocide against Uyghurs would be discussed at a higher level during negotiations with the Chinese government.
The non-binding resolution was introduced by the opposition Socialists in the lower house of the parliament and was backed by French President Emmanuel Macron’s Republic on the Move (LREM) party. It was almost unanimously adopted by the French Members of Parliament with 169 votes in favour against one and comes days ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, which is scheduled to start from February 4.
#UPDATE France's parliament on Thursday denounced a "genocide" by China against its Uyghur Muslim population, in a resolution that risks straining ties between Paris and Beijing two weeks before the Winter Olympics https://t.co/clRauEkrM8 pic.twitter.com/u3613MscVG
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) January 20, 2022
The World Uyghur Congress welcomed the declaration and called it a “necessary step towards wider international recognition of the Uyghur genocide.”
Other rights organisations have long accused China of detaining minorities, including over one million Uyghurs and Turks, in vast labour camps in the northwestern province of Xinjiang. Human rights groups claim that they have found compelling evidence of mass detentions, forced labour, torture, forced sterilisation and political indoctrination.
On Wednesday, while kicking off the French presidency of the European Union, French President Emmanuel Macron also highlighted violence against Uyghur Muslims.
In contrast, China has, on multiple occasions, rejected the term “genocide” and called these detention camps as vocational training centres to combat extremism. Moreover, Beijing has denied repeated requests from the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights to investigate the region.
The Netherlands was the first European country to adopt a non-binding resolution in February 2021. Additionally, several other countries like Belgium, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom have previously passed resolutions referring to China’s treatment of Uyghurs as genocide.