The EU must impose targeted sanctions on all high-ranking Chinese officials responsible for the massive and systematic crimes against the Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region, urge the S&Ds in advance of today’s vote on the European Parliament’s resolution on the matter.

We call for this urgent action in response to the recently revealed Xinjiang police files, providing significant further evidence of the glaring abuse of Uyghurs’ human rights. These violations, such as birth prevention measures and the separation of children from their families, amount to crimes against humanity and there is a serious risk of genocide.

We therefore urge the Chinese government to stop these abuses immediately, close all camps and detention centres, unconditionally release those detained and reunite the Uyghur children with their parents.

Raphaël Glucksmann MEP, the S&D negotiator on the resolution on the human rights situation in Xinjiang, said:

"The Xinjiang police files force us all to face the truth. We can no longer look away or dismiss the scale of the atrocities. Under Xi Jinping’s leadership and direct involvement, the Chinese communist regime's systemic crimes against the Uyghur population amount to crimes against humanity. The European Parliament is right to denounce a ‘serious risk of genocide’.”

"We will bear the guilt for any inaction or compromise now. We call on the EU and all its member states to act urgently! Impose targeted sanctions on the former Communist Party chief in the Xinjiang region, Chen Quanguo, the architect of this mass repression, and all other high-ranking officials implicated. Stop the ‘business as usual’ with China. Ban the products of slavery. Stop being accomplices!"