{"id":12918,"date":"2023-06-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-11T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/nieuws\/joint-ngo-letter-european-council-must-keep-human-rights-at-the-core-of-eu-relations-with-china\/"},"modified":"2023-06-12T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-06-11T22:00:00","slug":"joint-ngo-letter-european-council-must-keep-human-rights-at-the-core-of-eu-relations-with-china","status":"publish","type":"nieuws","link":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/news\/joint-ngo-letter-european-council-must-keep-human-rights-at-the-core-of-eu-relations-with-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Joint NGO letter: European Council must keep human rights at the core of EU relations with China"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In advance of the European Council of 29-30 June, the International Campaign for Tibet has joined other human rights groups in a letter urging the EU and its member states to ensure that human rights remain at the core of a robust and ambitious European Union (EU) approach to relations with the government of China.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the letter below, or <\/em>download as a PDF<\/em> here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

12 June 2023<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear President Michel,
Dear EU Heads of State,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ahead of the European Council of 29-30 June 2023, our organizations urge you to ensure that human rights remain at the core of a robust and ambitious European Union (EU) approach to relations with the government of China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, we have voiced our shared, urgent concerns on the deteriorating human rights situation in China with EU and member state decision-makers ahead of the EU-China human rights dialogue<\/a> in February and the informal Foreign Affairs Council<\/a> (\u201cGymnich\u201d) in May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other members of predominantly Muslim ethnic groups in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (\u201cXinjiang\u201d or \u201cUyghur Region\u201d) continue to face crimes against humanity and other serious human rights violations, including torture, arbitrary detention, family separation, forced sterilization and state-imposed forced labour that comprise state efforts to erase their religious and cultural identities. In Tibet, the Chinese authorities continue to apply aggressive assimilationist policies that violate the educational, religious, cultural and linguistic rights of the Tibetan people and threaten to ultimately eradicate Tibetan culture and identity \u2013 including a compulsory boarding school system which separates Tibetan children from their families and enforces Chinese-language education. The imposition of the dangerously vague and broad National Security Law in Hong Kong has led to an unprecedented erosion of the rights to freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly, and a closure of civic space more generally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human rights defenders in China, including lawyers and activists who are routinely subjected to surveillance, harassment and imprisonment, face an intensified crackdown this year, including as a direct result<\/a> of their interactions with the EU Delegation, as in the cases of Yu Wensheng and Xu Yan. In international fora, the Chinese government continues to undermine the normative framework for human rights protection by prioritizing development over all other rights, emphasising collective interests over individual rights and promoting procedural aspects of state co-operation over the substance of human rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To respond to these grim developments, the European Council should ensure that the current review and recalibration<\/a> of the March 2019 EU-China Strategic Outlook<\/a> contributes to strengthening EU actions on human rights in China, prioritizing strong and concrete human rights outcomes across all areas of relations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EU-China Strategic Outlook states that \u201cthe ability of EU and China to engage effectively on human rights will be an important measure of the quality of the bilateral relationship.\u201d As pointed out<\/a> by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, China \u201cis becoming more repressive at home and more assertive abroad.\u201d In April, the G7 also expressed<\/a> concerns about human rights in Xinjiang\/the Uyghur region, Tibet and Hong Kong. The EU and its member states cannot hope to build a more reliable geopolitical partnership with the government of China if it fails to address core human rights concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The June 2023 European Council will be a crucial opportunity to ensure that the EU\u2019s approach to its relations with the government of China redoubles action in response to the human rights crisis in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this spirit, the EU and its member states should build on the EU-China Strategic Outlook and:<\/p>\n\n\n\n