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On Wednesday local time or Thursday (02/02/2023) Indonesian time, the Canadian parliament unanimously passed a motion to accept 10,000 Uyghur refugees who fled China but are now facing pressure to return from China.

Reported Voice of AmericaThe move builds on a February 2021 decision by Canadian lawmakers to label Beijing’s treatment of Uyghurs and other Turkish Muslims in the northwest region of Xinjiang as genocide.

Human rights groups estimate that at least a million Uyghurs and other minorities, mostly Muslims, have been imprisoned in internment camps in the region, where China is also accused of forced sterilization of women and forced labor.

And according to backbencher Sameer Zuberi, who sponsored the motion, at least 1,600 people have been detained in other countries on Chinese orders or forcibly repatriated.

At a press conference, Zuberi noted that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet had voted in favor of the motion, indicating “the government’s intention to make it happen,” although it was not binding.

“It is a clear signal that we do not accept human rights violations against the Uighur people,” he said, adding that “what happened to the Uighurs is unacceptable.”

Mehmet Tohti, executive director of the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project, told reporters it was a powerful message that “will resonate not just in China and Canada, but around the world.”

The motion says Uyghurs who “have fled to third countries face pressure and intimidation from the Chinese state to return to China” and accuses Beijing of also exerting diplomatic and economic pressure on countries to detain and deport them, “leaving them without proper shelter”. in the world.”

It proposes the resettlement of 10,000 Uyghurs in Canada over two years, starting in 2024.

China defends Uyghur camps in Xinjiang, saying they are key to fighting terrorism and providing vocational training for minorities.

But the United States says China’s crackdown on Uighurs amounts to “genocide” and the United Nations has condemned China’s mistreatment of Uighurs and other Muslim Turks.

Dolkun Isa, president of the World Uyghur Congress, said: “The Uyghur people are under attack: our language, our culture, our religion, our history, our ethnic identity.” (red)