By Senat.cz
April 24, 2024 (Update)
Credits @FFHR.CZ
Pavel Fischer introductory speech.
Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the Senate resolution on the situation in the Xinjiang Uighur region was discussed by the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and Security at its 23rd meeting on 16 April, or he discussed it in the past last year. The resolution we are presenting to you is as follows:
1. Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic on the basis of a public hearing organized by the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and Security on October 20, 2023 on forced labor and violent assimilation in the Uighur region
I. condemns violations of the human rights of Uyghurs and other members of ethnic or religious communities by the party and state authorities of the People's Czech Republic of China,
II. notes that the government, in its program statement, undertook to review the Czech Republic's relations with China and called for the protection of human rights and democracy, calling the promotion of human rights and democracy morally right and beneficial for our state; committed itself to restoring 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 Uighur Autonomous Region, within the UN Human Rights Council and other UN fora.
2. The Senate calls on the Government of the Czech Republic to
AND. supported investigations 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, with an emphasis on examining the fulfillment of the facts of crimes against humanity, which, according to a 2022 report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, can continue to be committed.
II. encouraged High Commissioner Volker Türk to continue investigating Uighur human rights violations in the PRC in order to inform the Human Rights Council of the progress of his investigation, that a mechanism be set up in the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to examine the fulfillment of the facts of crimes against humanity,
III. supported the adoption of a European Union regulation banning forced labor products and services on the European market at the EU institutions and supported its consistent enforcement in relation to products and services originating in the PRC, the production or provision of which uses the forced labor of Uyghurs or other ethnic groups in the People's Republic of China,
IV. supported the inclusion in the EU sanctions list of all natural and legal persons of the PRC involved in the repression of the Uighur population and other minorities and in forced labor in the competent authorities of the European Union; and, in the event of failure to take this measure, to use national sanction mechanisms to achieve the above-mentioned objective in the Czech Republic,
V. continued to protect and strengthen human rights institutions, which must face sustained efforts to weaken some permanent members of the UN Security Council, including the People's Republic of China,
VI. used its power to initiate the UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and exercised its power to file a complaint.
Next, we, as the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, are committed to supporting the Government of the Czech Republic in implementing the steps set out in point IV and also to promoting them on its own line towards the European Parliament, other institutions of the European Union and 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 about this resolution.
Thank you.
Senator Pavel Fischer reports
Madam President, ladies and gentlemen. Let me also briefly introduce you to what has been the subject of our public hearing, as well as to the committee's deliberations since then.
What are the facts? On the one hand, we call on the government to help place those associated with forced labor on penalty lists, and the fact is, that some of them are already on the EU sanctions list today. This was done in 2021, when the EU discussed the situation in the Uighur Autonomous Region of those revelations that were scandalously described in various testimonies, and, as a result, the first representatives of the regime have already been included in the EU sanctions list. But that is not enough.
Because at the public hearing that we had the opportunity to organize here in the Senate, the results of which are available to you and the general public on the Senate's website, as is customary and as it is in accordance with the rules of procedure of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, absolutely incredible testimonies were heard. For example, systematic repression to forcefully assimilate minorities that are uncomfortable with the regime is, in the case of Uyghurs, forced sterilization of women, forced abortions, forced marriages, even organized rape of Uighur women in large numbers, because Beijing's political confidants are moving into their homes.
Families are forcibly divided in order to break off contacts between relatives, both at home and abroad. Some who have lived in exile for years have told us with emotion how to talk about the deaths of their loved ones, their parents, for example,they learned with a delay of several years simply because the regime made sure that there was no contact. But we also state the forced removal of children from parents, hundreds of thousands of these children have already been sent for re-education to boarding schools, children's homes, foreign families.
We also state on the basis of these personal testimonies, which were also heard here in Prague, in the Senate, in this hall, mass imprisonment without due process, arbitrary arrest only on the basis of e.g. facial physiognomy without the possibility of defense.
In short, the state power systematically strives to break traditions, religious customs, culture, historical heritage, in short, to change the identity of violence in this Uighur Autonomous Region.hundreds of thousands of these children have already been sent for re-education to boarding schools, children's homes, foreign families.
We also state on the basis of these personal testimonies, which were also heard here in Prague, in the Senate, in this hall, mass imprisonment without due process, arbitrary arrest only on the basis of e.g. facial physiognomy without the possibility of defense. In short, the state power systematically strives to break traditions, religious customs, culture, historical heritage, in short, to change the identity of violence in this Uighur Autonomous Region.hundreds of thousands of these children have already been sent for re-education to boarding schools, children's homes, foreign families.
We also state on the basis of these personal testimonies, which were also heard here in Prague, in the Senate, in this hall, mass imprisonment without due process, arbitrary arrest only on the basis of e.g. facial physiognomy without the possibility of defense. In short, the state power systematically strives to break traditions, religious customs, culture, historical heritage, in short, to change the identity of violence in this Uighur Autonomous Region. In short, the state power systematically strives to break traditions, religious customs, culture, historical heritage, in short, to change the identity of violence in this Uighur Autonomous Region. In short, the state power systematically strives to break traditions, religious customs, culture, historical heritage, in short, to change the identity of violence in this Uighur Autonomous Region.
The repression is affecting the citizens of the People's Republic of China or those who have some connection with them, literally all over the world. Intimidation, threats, even with the help of various police services, which China was able to establish, organize and establish literally all over the world, after all, we also dealt with it in the Czech Republic.
The 2022 UN report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, namely serious human rights violations of the Uyghurs, speaks in that sense or conceives them in the sense that it states, that it could be a crime against humanity. Unfortunately, the UN mission, which was ready to go into the field, to the relevant areas in China to state the facts, never got permission to enter, and in a moment, when the matter got to the meeting of the committee, resp. UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, China has blocked this discussion in an incredible way. That is, when we start with the 2022 report, we must at first glance be inspired by an appeal to entrepreneurs, which the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is formulating to the address of all companies, resp. traders. It calls on them to start assessing human rights risks.
That is why we are talking in our resolution about the fact that entrepreneurs, traders who offer services or products on our market within the EU should come up with some card or proof of, that their goods were not produced with the help of slave labor. It's nothing revolutionary.
The fight against forced labor is more than 100 years old on the European continent. The first international convention dates from 1930. The most important convention in force to date is from 1957, it is the Convention on the Elimination of Forced Labor, and the People's Republic of China, although it has applied for it, has only ratified it the year before, in 2022. To date, there are serious doubts as to whether it has even begun to comply with the provisions of this Convention.
That is why it is only good for private companies, for example, to be able to prove themselves that what they offer does not come, for example, from traffic, where forced slave labor is deployed in bulk, in order to re-educate and violate all the foundations of basic respect for human dignity or human freedom.
The Senate is definitely not discussing these matters for the first time. In 2021, under No. 228, we adopted a resolution on the Olympic Games, which were then held in the People's Republic of China, and on the commitments of the host country. In this resolution, the Senate stated with concern at the time that, I quote: There are massive violations of human rights and freedoms in the People's Republic of China, genocide, crimes against humanity, ethnic discrimination, cultural repression, religious and political identities and more.
What is the new meeting today? Today, we come up with the idea that we have evidence, facts, direct personal testimony of the Uyghurs who came here to testify at our public hearing. We appreciate what the Czech government has so far been able to do and promote in this matter in international institutions, because it is far from small, the Czech Republic is precisely because, that he pursues human rights agendas with such systematic attention, he ranks among the true leaders in this area.
At the same time, we call on the government not to resign, lay down arms within the EU or within the UN, but, on the contrary, to continue to act, because all the important instruments are available within the UN to address this issue. Just because one state is blocking them doesn't mean we should give it up. Our resolution is therefore also an encouragement to all those who are at the heart of these issues,whether they work in the non-governmental sector as journalists or as diplomats and others.
We cannot go back to how we did business with China, before, in the past, when we did not yet have facts about how widespread violations of human fundamental rights are taking place there. It would be immoral if we were to violate these rules and that the goods that are offered in our country today may come from those operations, where people are forced to work as slaves simply because, for example, they have a special language or come from a special area or are called in a special way. This would be a denial of basic rules and parameters, which our constitution remembers even within the Czech Republic and which we are obliged to respect.
I therefore wanted to thank you for the opportunity to speak here, to discuss this important issue, and I also wanted to ask you to support this resolution.
Thank you.
Senate Vice-President Jitka Seitlová: We will proceed to the vote.
There are currently 62 senators and senators present in the hall, the quorum is 32.
I am starting the vote. Please raise your hand and press YES. If you are against it, also raise your hand and press the NO button. The vote is closed.
The motion for a resolution has been approved.
I state that in vote no. 26 of the 64 senators present and senators in quota 33 . In favor, 60 were no one was against.
Source: senat.cz