Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. I thank Senators Mullen and McDowell for tabling this very important motion. A very realistic and grim picture of human rights abuses has been painted. When we think about families and communities and how they are impacted it is absolutely horrific. We cannot be silent in the face of this elaborate campaign of oppression and repression, religious discrimination and worse.

Ireland has very important cultural and trading links with the People's Republic of China.Last year, in fact, we celebrated the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between our two nations. China is now our fifth-largest trading partner. In 2018, bilateral trade hit €17 billion in goods and services. That figure doubled during the preceding five years. We were the first major EU beef exporter to be granted access to the Chinese market and we sell dairy, seafood and Irish infant formula to China. It is interesting that there are 37 Chinese companies in Ireland employing more than 3,200 people. Pre-covid, Tourism Ireland aimed to increase the number of Chinese visitors to Ireland by 200,000 by 2025. The Irish Embassy estimates that there are 9,000 Irish citizens living in greater China.

So far, so good on the Sino-Irish relationship. Since there is a strong positive relationship, we have to use our voice where it is needed and where we can. This is absolutely one of those times. There has, rightly, been rising international disquiet about the mass internment of religious minorities in China, including the Muslim Uyghur minority. An estimated 1.5 million ethnic Uyghurs and other Turkish Muslims are being subjected to mass arbitrary detention, forced political indoctrination, restrictions on movement and religious oppression, according to Human Rights Watch. Alleged attacks on women with a view to controlling the population are horrific in the extreme, as are allegations of forced labour and forced separation of children from their families. This is the largest mass incarceration since the Second World War and it is unthinkable in 2020. We must absolutely condemn what is happening to these people. We must call on the Chinese authorities to allow United Nations human rights monitors to access detention centres in the region. We must call on the People's Republic of China to bring an immediate end to these practices and we must use all of our trade and diplomatic channels to insist on the observance of basic human rights protections in China. We now have a seat on the UN Security Council. We have an opportunity to influence that organisation and the EU. We have a proud history of standing up to power and defending the vulnerable and we absolutely must use our voice now.