On 17 April 2024, the 23rd meeting of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic was held, during which a Senate resolution on the situation in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region was adopted. In particular, in the resolution, the Senate “condemns the violation of the human rights of the Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious communities by the Party and state authorities of the People's Republic of China“, notes that the government is committed to reviewing Czech-Chinese relations, and commends the Czech government's long-term solution to this problem not only at the national level but also at the UN level. In addition, the Senate resolution calls on the Czech government to “support an investigation into the human rights situation of the Uyghurs in the PRC within the UN Human Rights Council and in relation to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights'“, “to support the adoption of the EU regulation on the prohibition of products and services derived from forced labour on the European market and to support its strict enforcement“ and to extend the EU sanctions list to include those involved in the repression of the Uyghur population, and, if unsuccessful at European level, at least to include them on the national sanctions list. Finally, the Senate calls on the Government of the Czech Republic to “use its power to bring a complaint to the UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and to use its power to lodge a complaint“.
Pavel Fisher, Chairman of the Committee and sponsor of the item in question, took the floor after the presentation of the motion, during which he referred, inter alia, to the Public hearing on forced labour and forced assimilation in the Uyghur region, which had been held on October 20, 2023, and which was attended, among others, by students of the Faculty of Law of Charles University (Sára Eva Neničková, Lenka Hanušová, Magdaléna Milbachová and Helena Šmolková), as authors of the policy paper Recommendations to the public authorities on crimes against humanity and genocide of Uyghurs in the People's Republic of China. With the help of members of the Centre for Constitutionalism and Human Rights (prof. Helena Hofmannová and Mgr. Karel Řepa, Ph.D.), they drew up a list of recommendations, some of which found their way into the Senate resolution in question.
In his plenary speech, Pavel Fischer, chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Security, stated the following motives for adopting the resolution: “Because at the public hearing we had the opportunity to organise here in the Senate [...] absolutely incredible testimonies were given. For example, the systematic repression with the aim of forcibly assimilating minorities who are inconvenient to the regime amounts, in the case of the Uyghurs, to forced sterilisation of women, forced abortions, forced marriages, even the organised rape of Uyghur women on a large scale, because political confidants from Beijing have moved into their homes. Families are being forcibly separated in order to cut off contact between relatives, both at home and abroad. Some who have been living in exile for years have told us with emotion how, for example, they learned of the death of their loved ones, their parents, years late, simply because the regime made sure that there was no contact. But we also note the forced removal of children from their parents; hundreds of thousands of these children have already been sent for re-education to boarding schools, children's homes, foreign families. We also note, on the basis of these personal testimonies, which have also been heard here in Prague, in the Senate, in this Chamber, mass imprisonment without due process, arbitrary arrests based solely on, for example, facial physiognomy, without the possibility of a defence. In short, the state power is systematically seeking to disrupt traditions, religious customs, culture, historical heritage, in short, to change the identity of this Uyghur Autonomous Region by force“.
We believe that the resolution was also adopted following a public hearing last October, in response to testimony and in response to a policy paper by the Centre for Constitutionalism and Human Rights.
The resolution was adopted by 60 senators, with no one present against. It is a positive signal that there is broad political consensus on this issue and the need to address it, and we hope it is a harbinger of further concrete action by the government and other relevant public authorities.
Full text of the resolution:
1. The Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, on the basis of the public hearing held by the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and Security on October 20, 2023 on the subject of forced labor and forced assimilation in the Uyghur region
I. condemns the violation of the human rights of Uyghurs and other members of ethnic or religious communities by the Party and State organs of the People's Republic of China,
II. notes that the Government, in its programme statement, committed itself to reviewing the Czech Republic's relations with China and to the protection of human rights and democracy, describing the promotion of human rights and democracy as morally right and beneficial to our state; in doing so, it committed itself to the renewal of the tradition of Havel's foreign policy
III. appreciates that the Government of the Czech Republic has long addressed the issue of respect for human rights in the PRC, including the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, within the UN Human Rights Council and in other UN fora.
2. The Senate calls on the Government of the Czech Republic to
I. support, within the UN Human Rights Council and in relation to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, an investigation into the human rights situation of the Uyghurs in the PRC, with an emphasis on examining the fulfilment of the elements of crimes against humanity that may continue to be committed according to the 2022 report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
II. support that High Commissioner Volker Türk continue to investigate human rights violations against the Uyghurs in the PRC, that he report on the progress of his investigation to the Human Rights Council, and that a mechanism be established within the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to examine the fulfillment of the elements of crimes against humanity,
III. support, within the EU institutions, the adoption of the European Union Regulation on the prohibition of products and services derived from forced labour on the European market and support its strict enforcement in relation to products and services originating in the PRC that are produced or provided using forced labour of Uyghurs or other ethnic groups in the People's Republic of China,
IV. support, within the competent bodies of the European Union, the inclusion of all PRC natural and legal persons involved in the repression of the Uyghur population and other minorities and in forced labour on the EU sanctions list; and, if this measure fails, to make use of national sanction mechanisms to achieve the above-mentioned objective on the territory of the Czech Republic, subject to appropriate conditions,
V. continue to protect and strengthen human rights institutions, which must face continued efforts to undermine them by some permanent members of the UN Security Council, including the People's Republic of China,
VI. exercise its right to submit a complaint to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
Furthermore, we, as the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, undertake to support the Government of the Czech Republic in the implementation of the steps outlined in point IV above and to pursue them through our own channels towards the European Parliament, other institutions of the European Union and the parliaments of other EU Member States.
Finally, we instruct the President of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic to inform the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic of this resolution.
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