Britain has done more than ignore the Uyghur genocide – from politics to business, it is complicit | Rahima Mahmut

James Cleverly's barely there pressure on China is hardly surprising, given the companies and even universities playing a role in human rights abuses

This week, yet another foreign secretary has justified engaging with the perpetrators of genocide, on the basis that going to Beijing would allow them to raise concerns in private. According to an official statement, James Cleverly made clear the UK's strength of feeling about the mass incarceration of the Uyghur people" in his bilateral meetings with senior Chinese government figures. Once again, this has shown China that when it comes to the mass contravention of human rights, the UK government has nothing but words in response and fails to stand up for its values.

Shocking as this is, it is hardly surprising, given not just the failure to protect the Uyghur people from genocide but the concerted efforts to deny the facts and a wilful ignorance across politics, business and civil society in the UK.

Rahima Mahmut is executive director of Stop Uyghur Genocide and UK director of the World Uyghur Congress