Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chair. I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I thank my colleague and friend Senator McDowell, in particular, for leading off this Private Members' business on behalf of the Seanad Independent Group. At many times in this House, I have used the analogy that we need to shine a light in a dark place. If ever there was a time to do this, it is today. As politicians elected, it is great to say, in a democracy, we have to be defenders of human rights, dignity and respect for people. We are wasting our time if we cannot use this Chamber, Parliament and Republic to advocate for people like the Uyghur people. That is an important point to which I and many of us in the House are committed.

I also thank my colleague for going to the trouble and taking the time to print the Uyghur Tribunal judgment before Christmas and to send us an accompanying letter, which I understand he sent to every Member of the Oireachtas. I sincerely thank him for that. It made for harrowing reading and set out a litany of issues, including forced sterilisation and abortions, massive internment camps, suppression of religion and culture, forced internal migration, slave labour and genocide. How can anyone stand here and say we are concerned? We are more than concerned. The people outside the House looking in will make their call. It will not be what we are saying or are trying to convince them. They will make their call. Are we true defenders of human rights or are we not?

The Uyghur people have been subjected to unconscionable crimes against humanity that amount to an act of genocide. The independent tribunal chair, Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, has confirmed that to the world. The UK-based Uyghur Tribunal team hope that by processing, publishing and laying this evidence in the public domain, it will, with the international press, the international community and international human rights defenders, compel international attention and tackle the alleged abuses against these people, a largely Muslim ethnic group.

The tribunal report states that there is evidence that detainees have been confined in containers up to their neck in cold water, shackled in heavy metal chains and immobilised for months and possibly years. It states that some of the detained have been subjected to extreme sexual violence, including gang rapes, penetration with electric shock rods and iron bars. Women were raped by men paying to be allowed in to detention centres for that purpose. This is all clearly set out in the report. The tribunal found evidence of enforced abortions, the removal of women's wombs against their will, the killing of babies immediately after their birth, and the mass enforcement of sterilisation through the insertion of IUD devices that are only removable by surgical means. How harrowing and shocking. Hundreds of thousands of Uyghur children have been taken from their families and placed in Han-run boarding schools. Burial grounds have been bulldozed or built over, mosques have been destroyed and religious practice has been banned. That is what this tribunal has uncovered - human suffering and breaches of international human rights law.

As elected politicians, people place their trust in us to be fearless defenders of human rights. Fearless journalists have highlighted this on the international stage and I commend them. I particularly want to commend those in our national press and the international press who have highlighted this. We need them; they need us. Words such as "uncertainly", "solidarity" and "hope" are used by many. They come to mind now. We must stand in solidarity with these people. We must use our Chamber, Seanad Éireann, to shine a light in a very dark place. We must be a beacon of hope and light for these people. Let us stand in solidarity and park our political difference. Let us forget about the scripts that come from Iveagh House. Let us forget about the different agendas. Let us send a clear message today to the international world that this is a priority and that we, Irish politicians, are defenders of human rights. We deserve that place. We have earned it in the past. We will continue to advocate for it.

I must say I cannot support these amendments. If I were a Senator listening to this debate, I would get into my car and get into this Chamber because, today, we will have votes and we will send a signal. Do we really stand in solidarity with these people?