PRESS RELEASE – For Immediate Release
East Turkistan Government in Exile
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+1 (202) 599-2244, Ext: 1
26 May 2021

WASHINGTON: May 26, 2021 – On May 26th, 2021 the Italian Parliament’s  Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously adopted a motion issuing the “strongest possible condemnation” of human rights abuses In East Turkistan.

Following months of debate on the issue, Italy’s House of Representatives approved, with no contrary vote, a unified text, condensing different resolutions presented by  various Italian MPs including MPs Paolo Formentini, Andrea Delmastro, Lia Quartapelle, Iolanda Di Stasio, and Valentino Valentini, representing a wide bipartisan consensus. 

The text of the resolution adopted a strong language focusing on illegal birth control practices, repression of religious freedom, forced labor, internment camps, arbitrary detention, and massive digital surveillance but failed to recognize it as genocide.

The adopted Italian Parliamentary motion asks the Italian government to follow with similar condemnations of China at international level, taking seriously testimonies from East Turkistan and helping the victims. It also calls for a ban on trade of goods that may be connected to forced labor. And it asks China to allow free access in the East Turkistan to UNHCR officials as well as independent observers, researchers, and parliamentarians.

The East Turkistan Government in Exile praised Italy’s Chamber of Deputies’ Foreign Affairs Committee to condemning China’s atrocities against Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples in Occupied East Turkistan.

“We call on Italy’s Government and its Parliament to join the United States, Canada, The Netherlands, The United Kingdom, and Lithuania in recognizing China’s ongoing atrocities against Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples in East Turkistan as genocide,” said Prime Minister Salih Hudayar of the East Turkistan Government in Exile.