London: An amendment to a British trade law that would potentially block future trade deals with China over alleged genocide in the Xinjiang region has cleared a key legislative hurdle, reports South China Morning Post.
On Thursday, the House of Lords had voted to pass an amendment to the trade law.
The law assumes to be significant as it could force the government to reconsider trade deals where the consignee has been found by British courts to have committed genocide.
It cleared the house with a vote of 359 to 188, and will now go to a vote in the House of Commons next week, reports South China Morning Post.
“While this amendment does not focus solely on China, a primary concern of many of our colleagues is the deplorable actions of the Chinese government towards the Uygur population in Xinjiang province,” Gerry Grimstone, the trade minister in the House of Lords, who opposed the motion, was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
Meanwhile, an investigative report published by BBC has revealed that women in China’s “re-education” camps for Uighurs have been systematically raped, sexually abused, and tortured.
The men always wore masks, Tursunay Ziawudun, a victim, said, even though there was no pandemic then, reports BBC.
She said these men wore suits which were not police uniforms.
Ziawudun told the news channel these men also took her.
“Perhaps this is the most unforgettable scar on me forever,” she said.
According to independent estimates, more than a million men and women have been detained in the sprawling network of camps, which China says exist for the “re-education” of the Uighurs and other minorities, reports BBC.