UHRP thanks U.S. Senate for passing Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020
“ The Chinese government’s response to the bill demonstrates that it fears foreign policy measures that might exert a real cost on their own officials,”
UHRP thanks U.S. Senate for passing Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020
For immediate
May 14, 2020 4:02 pm EST
Contact: Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) (202) 790-1795, (703) 217-7266
https://uhrp.org/press-release/uhrp-thanks-us-senate-passing-uyghur-human-rights-policy-act-2020.html
The Uyghur Human Rights Project welcomes Senate passage today of the Uyghur
Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 by unanimous consent. UHRP urges the House
of Representatives to take action quickly, in order for the bill to reach
the President’s desk to be signed into law. This represents the first
legislative response to the Uyghur human rights crisis and is an important
first step to a more comprehensive policy response. U.S. leadership will
help ensure that other nations take similar steps in confronting the
Chinese government on its treatment of Uyghurs.
With 70 original co-sponsors, the bill’s passage demonstrates tremendous
bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress for strong pushback against the
atrocities suffered by the Uyghur people. The Senate unanimously approved a
previous version of the bill in September 2019, and the US House of
Representatives voted 407 to 1 in favour of similar legislation in December
2019.
The Chinese government’s response to the bill demonstrates that it fears foreign policy measures that might exert a real cost on their own officials, said UHRP Executive Director Omer Kanat
The Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 endorses targeted sanctions on
culpable Chinese government officials, and creates a mandate for reports on
human rights abuses in the Uyghur region and on Chinese government
harassment of Uyghurs living inside the United States. This bill “ holds
the Communist of Party of China
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/China?src=hashtag_click> accountable for
grotesque actions,” said Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), in announcing the
bill’s passage.
This is an important milestone in developing a response to the crisis. The
Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, introduced by Representative McGovern
in the House <https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/6210/>
and Senator Rubio in the Senate
<https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/3471>, is an
important next step. China’s massive forced labor transfer program
<https://www.aspi.org.au/report/uyghurs-sale> threatens to taint the supply
chains
<https://www.cecc.gov/sites/chinacommission.house.gov/files/documents/CECC%20Staff%20Report%20March%202020%20-%20Global%20Supply%20Chains%2C%20Forced%20Labor%2C%20and%20the%20Xinjiang%20Uyghur%20Autonomous%20Region.pdf>
of the U.S. and other nations whose laws forbid the importation of products
made with forced labor. UHRP encourages Members of the U.S. Congress to
co-sponsor the bill, and the elected representatives of other nations to
consider a strong policy response to these grave human rights violations.
* * * * *
The Uyghur Human Rights Project promotes the rights of the Uyghur people
through research-based advocacy. It publishes reports and analysis in
English and Chinese to defend Uyghurs’ civil, political, social, cultural,
and economic rights according to international human rights standards. We
hope you will consider supporting our work with a tax-deductible donation.
Donate here <http://uhrp.org/support>.
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