Thread by @UyghurCongress

The @Europarl_EN held a debate about the situation in #EastTurkistan, hours after Ilham Tohti was honoured with the #SakharovPrize.

EU High Rep for Foreign Affairs @JosepBorrellF spoke first, noting the EU's deep concern & the active role it has played in addressing the issue.

@Europarl_EN @JosepBorrellF "We ask China to allow access to these camps and allow those detained to be released. They have been detained simply for following their religious beliefs or expressing their opinions."

- MEP Isabel Wiseler-Lima @iwiseler

@Europarl_EN @JosepBorrellF @iwiseler “All mass detention centres must be shut and perpetrators of the massive human rights abuses must be brought to justice. We also expect that the EU is ready to adopt targeted sanctions against those responsible.”

- MEP @KatiPiri

@Europarl_EN @JosepBorrellF @iwiseler @KatiPiri "We cannot stand by and have normal relations with #China while these appalling human rights violations are taking place."

"We should sanction human rights violations."

- MEP @PhilBennion

@Europarl_EN @JosepBorrellF @iwiseler @KatiPiri @PhilBennion "We strongly believe that it is time to end the lies, to end the excuses and to end the distractions and to close the camps."

"We as Europeans must also be active beyond voicing critical words."

- MEP Reinhard Bütikofer @bueti

@Europarl_EN @JosepBorrellF @iwiseler @KatiPiri @PhilBennion @bueti "We call on EU based companies to draw clear red lines, they are running a high reputational risk if they do not implement a robust human rights due diligence system that makes sure they are not implicated in acts of repression."

- MEP Reinhard Bütikofer @bueti

@Europarl_EN @JosepBorrellF @iwiseler @KatiPiri @PhilBennion @bueti “We require decisive action of the EU. Mr. High Rep it requires full resolve from our side. I call for a shut down of camps as well as targeted sanctions for those responsible for perpetration of intimidation”

- MEP @AnnaFotyga_PE

@Europarl_EN @JosepBorrellF @iwiseler @KatiPiri @PhilBennion @bueti @AnnaFotyga_PE "We want immediate targeted sanctions against those people who are responsible for these grotesque infringements and a ban on exports of the technologies that allows this predictive profiling."

- MEP @FMCastaldo

@Europarl_EN @JosepBorrellF @iwiseler @KatiPiri @PhilBennion @bueti @AnnaFotyga_PE @FMCastaldo "I think right across this house we share the same position and hopefully that will prompt reflection in Beijing:"
1.Release Ilham Tohti
2.Observe the provision of your own constitution and your own laws
3.Observe your obligations internationally

- MEP @michaelgahler

@Europarl_EN @JosepBorrellF @iwiseler @KatiPiri @PhilBennion @bueti @AnnaFotyga_PE @FMCastaldo @michaelgahler "I expect you Mr. Borrell and the member states, as you have already done, to continue to speak out clearly against the Chinese leadership. Speak up for the immediate closure of the ‘re-edcuation camps’ and access to the region for independent experts"

-MEP Evelyne Gebhardt

@Europarl_EN @JosepBorrellF @iwiseler @KatiPiri @PhilBennion @bueti @AnnaFotyga_PE @FMCastaldo @michaelgahler "Today we give the Sakharov Prize to Ilham Tohti as a political signal where Europe stands (...)

So now Europe has to follow up and demand the release of the Uyghur people held in the camps."

- MEP @SophieintVeld

@Europarl_EN @JosepBorrellF @iwiseler @KatiPiri @PhilBennion @bueti @AnnaFotyga_PE @FMCastaldo @michaelgahler @SophieintVeld "Colleagues, we Europeans have the power to stand up for fundamental rights against China’s digital dictatorship. Let’s start with targeted sanctions. Mr. Borrell… act."

- MEP @MarketkaG

@Europarl_EN @JosepBorrellF @iwiseler @KatiPiri @PhilBennion @bueti @AnnaFotyga_PE @FMCastaldo @michaelgahler @SophieintVeld @MarketkaG "The recent leaks (reveal) that Chinese Ambassadors and high-ranking government officials have been straight up lying to us over the mass cultural genocide that China commits”

- MEP @MarketkaG

@Europarl_EN @JosepBorrellF @iwiseler @KatiPiri @PhilBennion @bueti @AnnaFotyga_PE @FMCastaldo @michaelgahler @SophieintVeld @MarketkaG "The award that we are giving today to Professor Ilham Tohti is an award that goes not only to him, but to every Uyghur citizen who is fighting this madness (...) As Europeans, we must defend with our strength, the rights of the Uyghur minority in Xinjiang."

- MEP @ignaziocorrao

@Europarl_EN @JosepBorrellF @iwiseler @KatiPiri @PhilBennion @bueti @AnnaFotyga_PE @FMCastaldo @michaelgahler @SophieintVeld @MarketkaG @ignaziocorrao "The practice of arbitrary detention without any charge, trial or conviction for criminal offence of Uyghur or other Muslim minorities should be ended immediately, the detained persons should be released unconditionally."

- MEP @davidmcallister

@Europarl_EN @JosepBorrellF @iwiseler @KatiPiri @PhilBennion @bueti @AnnaFotyga_PE @FMCastaldo @michaelgahler @SophieintVeld @MarketkaG @ignaziocorrao @davidmcallister MEP Ilhan Kyuchyuk called for #China to release Ilham Tohti from prison and to stop the persecution of the #Uyghur people.

@Europarl_EN @JosepBorrellF @iwiseler @KatiPiri @PhilBennion @bueti @AnnaFotyga_PE @FMCastaldo @michaelgahler @SophieintVeld @MarketkaG @ignaziocorrao @davidmcallister "When we see heavy reactions from China, one might think it shows that they are strong, but in reality it shows the opposite. They are weak because they know what they are doing with their own people is morally wrong."

- MEP @ViolavonCramon

@Europarl_EN @JosepBorrellF @iwiseler @KatiPiri @PhilBennion @bueti @AnnaFotyga_PE @FMCastaldo @michaelgahler @SophieintVeld @MarketkaG @ignaziocorrao @davidmcallister @ViolavonCramon “We have broken the silence by granting the Sakharov Prize to Ilham Tohti, but that is not enough. We now have to act. We need sanctions. Sanctions against the Chinese leaders who are directly involved.”

- MEP Raphael Glucksmann @rglucks1

@Europarl_EN @JosepBorrellF @iwiseler @KatiPiri @PhilBennion @bueti @AnnaFotyga_PE @FMCastaldo @michaelgahler @SophieintVeld @MarketkaG @ignaziocorrao @davidmcallister @ViolavonCramon @rglucks1 “It is not enough to rage against this situation, we also have to call to the Chinese officials responsible for this that there can be no continuation of this policy.”

- MEP Bernard Guetta

@Europarl_EN @JosepBorrellF @iwiseler @KatiPiri @PhilBennion @bueti @AnnaFotyga_PE @FMCastaldo @michaelgahler @SophieintVeld @MarketkaG @ignaziocorrao @davidmcallister @ViolavonCramon @rglucks1 "We have been too slow in reacting to the Chinese regime’s horrible crimes against Uyghur people."

"Colleagues and friends, now is the time to stop tip-toeing around China and its criminal communist regime."

- MEP @DavidLega

@Europarl_EN @JosepBorrellF @iwiseler @KatiPiri @PhilBennion @bueti @AnnaFotyga_PE @FMCastaldo @michaelgahler @SophieintVeld @MarketkaG @ignaziocorrao @davidmcallister @ViolavonCramon @rglucks1 @DavidLega "(...) Our support of the Uyghurs cannot end with sanctions, because giving up on defending human rights and liberties, where ever they are threatened, would be giving up on everything the EU stands for. Let us not walk down that road."

- MEP @DavidLega

@Europarl_EN @JosepBorrellF @iwiseler @KatiPiri @PhilBennion @bueti @AnnaFotyga_PE @FMCastaldo @michaelgahler @SophieintVeld @MarketkaG @ignaziocorrao @davidmcallister @ViolavonCramon @rglucks1 @DavidLega "This is not counterterrorism, these are human rights violations on a scale we have not seen in decades. Public statements are no longer enough, we seriously need to review our relationship with China, including trade (…)."

- MEP @NeenaGmep