“Despite this unbreakable principle, upheld in the 1993 Vienna Declaration on human rights, we are witnessing efforts by fundamentalist groups to undermine the foundation on which the whole human rights system is based.  Some of these efforts are based on a misuse of culture, including religion and tradition, or on claims related to State sovereignty.

“Under the disguise of protecting the family, some States are taking initiatives aimed at diluting human rights. We obviously recognise that the family is the fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection, but we insist on the need to re-assert women’s right to equality in all aspects of family life and recognise that diverse forms of families exist.”

Here we have documented the return of 317 Uyghurs to China since 1997 from 15 different countries including Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, Germany and Sweden.