A new report released today by the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission reveals testimony from two former foreign prisoners who spent time in China’s jails, detailing the mistreatment, injustice and forced labour they endured and others continue to face.

On 26 June, British citizen Peter Humphrey and Romanian citizen Marius Balo testified at a hearing held in the UK Parliament by the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission, chaired by Tim Loughton MP, in which they shared their experiences of life in China’s prisons. They are the first former foreign prisoners from China ever to have testified.

Peter Humphrey, and his wife, spent two years in jail in Shanghai, while Marius Balo endured a total of 8 years in China’s prisons. Both men described the complete lack of fair trial, their unjust imprisonment, psychological torture, denial of medical treatment, forced labour producing goods for multinational brands and global supply chains and the failure of the international community to do more to confront these challenges.

Tim Loughton MP, Chairman of the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission, said: “Peter and Marius are two of the bravest men I have met and their story not only deserves to be heard, it needs to be heard widely. Their experiences show first-hand the dangers of doing business in China, the risks we take when doing due diligence isn’t simply difficult, it is actually criminalised and is now regarded as espionage, and when global supply chains are riddled with slave labour. It is high time our governments woke up to these ethical, moral and indeed security threats, and took action to prevent these abuses, protect our citizens and ensure there are consequences for the perpetrators of these injustices.”

Read the full report here.