(TibetanReview.net, Jun17’21) – Adding its voice to those of its counterparts in numerous other democratic countries, the Belgian parliament has on Jun 15 recognized China’s treatment of Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang as crimes against humanity and warned of a “serious risk of genocide.”
The Brussels vote followed a Czech Senate resolution 38-0 on Jun 14 declaring China’s policies toward Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities as amounting to genocide and crimes against humanity.
Before them, the parliaments of Canada, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Lithuania had also passed resolutions, calling China’s policies in Xinjiang genocidal.
Although the resolutions have no force of law, and the relevant governments chose not to actively support them, they represent a setback as well as embarrassment to Beijing which denounced them while denying the accusations.
The Belgian motion, which cleared the parliament’s foreign relations committee and will be confirmed by a plenary session on Jul 1, also calls for a reexamination of policies ranging from extradition to investment, reported rfa.org Jun 15.
