UK parliamentarians reject genocide amendment to Trade Bill

UK parliamentarians on 19 January narrowly voted, by 319 votes to 308, to reject an amendment to the Trade Bill 2019-2021.

The amendment required the government to reconsider trade deals with countries which the UK High Court judges to be committing genocide.

During the debate Greg Hands MP, Minister of State for Trade, had argued that “The Lord Alton amendment, which allows automatic revocation by the High Court of an international trade agreement that was negotiated between Governments and approved by Parliament, would not be the right way forward.”

However, Sir Iain Duncan Smith responded: “The amendment does not give the courts too much power, because it does not take power from the House of Commons or the House of Lords. We do not have the power to decide whether the Government should do trade deals or not. It is a Government power under royal prerogative. The power does not go across to the courts. The courts simply make a preliminary judgment. On the back of that the Government, even with this amendment, would have to come back to the House if they disagreed. They could disagree by putting forward primary legislation.”

A revised amendment is expected to be tabled once the Bill returns to the House of Lords.

CSW’s Founder President Mervyn Thomas said: “At its heart, this amendment is an innovative, victim-centred means of addressing the gravest of international crimes. All too often, genocide is not addressed while it is underway as attempts to do so become mired in international politics, preventing cases reaching the international courts. We hope that once a revised amendment is tabled it will be passed by parliamentarians, as this will send a powerful message from the mother of parliaments that the UK will not turn a blind eye to genocide. We also hope this measure will add momentum to further efforts to ensure that grave human rights violations, including those falling short of genocide, are also considered in UK trade negotiations.”

Earlier on 19 January, the outgoing US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, declared that China is committing “ongoing” genocide against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, a designation that was affirmed by his successor in post in the Biden administration, Anthony Blinken. Uyghur rights groups have welcomed the statements and called for action to address human rights violations perpetrated against the Uyghur people by the Chinese Communist Party.