Skip to main content
Home

Main navigation

  • Top stories
  • Health
  • Crime
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Tech
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Weird
  • 1-1-2
Image
China national flags
China national flags - Credit: Photo: Alan/DepositPhotos
Politics
genocide
China
Uyghur
Tweede Kamer
Stef Blok
ministry of foreign affairs
Xinjiang
d66
Sjoerd Sjoerdsma
Friday, 26 February 2021 - 10:47
Share this:
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • whatsapp
  • reddit

Dutch parliament names China's treatment of Uyghurs genocide

A majority in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, believes that the way in which China treats the Uyghur people should be called genocide. GroenLinks, PvdA, CDA, PvdD, DENK, ChristenUnie, 50Plus and two independent parliamentarians supported a D66 proposal for the Dutch government to stop mincing words around this issue, NOS reports.

Many thousands of Uyghur people and other Muslims are being held in detention camps in and detention centers in China's Xinjiang region. Exact numbers are unknown, but some estimates say that over a million people are detained there. Early this month, BBC reported there is systemic rape and torture happening in the camps. There are also reports of forced labor and forced sterilization.

"This involves terrible abuses against the Uyghur Muslim minority. We should not mince words and call it genocide," D66 parliamentarian Sjoerd Sjoerdsma said. A majority in parliament agreed. They believe China's actions fall under United Nations resolution 260, better known as the genocide convention.

Minister Stef Blok of Foreign Affairs agreed that large-scale human rights violations, such as the imposition of birth restrictions, are happening in China. But the Cabinet does not want to use the word genocide until the UN or the International Criminal Court have ruled on the matter, he said in parliament on Thursday.

The Chinese embassy in The Hague responded with outrage to the parliamentary motion. China sees the motion as "deliberate slander" and as "gross interference in a domestic affair", the embassy said, NOS reports. According to the embassy, Dutch parliament is completely ignoring the facts and "common sense".

"Genocide is well defined in international law", and according to the embassy, does not apply to this matter. "By hyping up the Xinjiang issue ahead of elections, parliamentarians are misusing the issue for political purposes without respect for the law. This shows their ignorance and bias towards China and their selfishness and narrow-mindedness," the embassy said.

The Canadian House of Commons and the United States government already labeled the treatment of the Uyghur people as genocide. The Netherlands is the first in Europe to do so, though there are also heated discussions about sanctions against China in France and England.

Follow us:

Latest stories

  • Trains expected to run from 9 a.m. around Amsterdam, Utrecht & The Hague
  • Most Dutch businesses facing higher costs they can’t pass on despite rising debt levels
  • Woman possibly abducted in Houten; Police looking for witnesses
  • Amsterdam train traffic still halted as outage continues; Cause still unknown
  • Health Ministry invests €32 million in Long Covid research
  • All train traffic halted to and from Amsterdam Central Station due to malfunction

Top stories

  • Trains expected to run from 9 a.m. around Amsterdam, Utrecht & The Hague
  • Most Dutch businesses facing higher costs they can’t pass on despite rising debt levels
  • Woman possibly abducted in Houten; Police looking for witnesses
  • Amsterdam train traffic still halted as outage continues; Cause still unknown
  • All train traffic halted to and from Amsterdam Central Station due to malfunction
  • Amsterdam apartment building uninhabitable after major fire

© 2012-2023, NL Times, All rights reserved.

Footer menu

  • Privacy
  • Contact
  • Partner content