Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the Seanad and congratulate him on is appointment. I know that he will discharge his duties with great competence and professionalism.

I found myself in the most unexpected position, as a new Senator, of completely concurring with the motion proposed by Senator Mullen. I feel very honoured to have had the opportunity to put my name to the motion, for which I am grateful.

The motion has been sensitively crafted, addresses this serious matter and accurately reflects the appropriate responses on the part of our nation. When I watch programmes and read about the Holocaust and Shoah, I often wonder what I would have done. Would I have spoken up? What cost would I have been prepared to pay for the defence of human rights and dignity of fellow human beings? I like to think that I would have had the courage to speak up, regardless of consequences, be they trade or otherwise.

I have had the honour of visiting Rwanda and taught counselling skills to community leaders there to assist them in supporting their communities in the aftermath of genocide. I have seen at first hand the consequences when human life and rights are reduced so savagely that people are denied their very right to life, and their very way of life is despised and disposable.

The plight of the Uyghur Muslims is horrific. The accounts that we have heard are harrowing. I acknowledge the relatives of the Uyghur people here in Ireland, and their anxiety and mourning for the plight of their loved ones within China.I note too that the EU has stated that if such appalling practices are confirmed, which would constitute serious human rights violations, they must be stopped immediately and those responsible held accountable. At the same time, I note the reports by the China scholar Adrian Zenz that there was a near-zero population growth in a Uyghur region of China, that growth rates fell by 84% between 2015 and 2018, and further in 2019, in the two largest Uyghur Muslim prefectures. In 2018, some 80% of all new IUD placements in China were performed in Xinjiang, despite the fact that the region only makes up 1.8% of the nation's population.

The EU added the word "if" and stopped short of calling this a genocide but I will not. We are observers of a genocide. What are we to do in the face of this horrific injustice and attempted racial obliteration? Let us be clear, this is the wiping out of men, women and children just because they happen to be born within a particular culture and religion.

The interview with the Chinese ambassador was chilling. In counselling we have a concept called gaslighting, which is defined as a cynical tactic in which a person or entity manipulates another in the hope of acquiring power to lead them to question reality. Gaslighting has five factors: lies, denial in the face of proof, manipulation of feelings towards a group of people against them, wearing down one's resolve and, suggesting that people's actions do not match their words. Irish people have a noble history of defending and speaking out for human rights. We are a people for whom genocide strikes a sensitive resonance. The denial of language, culture, religion and identity is within our collective memory. We now have an opportunity to call that out on the national and international stage. We must stand with the Uyghur people in China and with their relatives living among us in this country and signal our empathy in tangible terms in condemning the actions of China. I commend the proposer and the motion to the House.