The report by Michelle Bachelet, the former Chilean leader who is the UN's outgoing High Commissioner for Human Rights accused China of using vague national security laws to clamp down on the rights of minorities and establishing "systems of arbitrary detention".

It said prisoners had been subjected to "patterns of ill-treatment" which included "incidents of sexual and gender-based violence". Others, they said, faced forced medical treatment and "discriminatory enforcement of family planning and birth control policies".

All this confirms reporting by many international observers, including reporting by BBC News.

Today's Amol Rajan spoke to the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Tom Tugendhat MP as well as International Human rights barrister Philippe Sands QC and the Journalist and China expert Isobel Hilton.

(Image: UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, Credit: Reuters, Pierre Albouy)