Bill directing State Department to coordinate Uyghur human rights policy now heads to the Senate.
By RFA staff
WASHINGTON — The House passed the Uyghur Policy Act on Tuesday, a bill that advances a strategy for the United States to support Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities enduring persecution at the hands of China’s government.
It’s the latest try for the measure, which was passed by the House in the past two congressional terms without advancing further.
Sponsored by a bipartisan group led by Rep. Young Kim, a California Republican, and Rep. Ami Bera, a California Democrat, the measure calls on the State Department to oversee Uyghur human rights-related policies and programs that preserve Uyghurs’ ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic identities.
The bill aims to increase accountability for human rights organizations and sets a strategy to close detention facilities and political reeducation camps in China. It also creates reporting mechanisms for Uyghur victims.
“For too long, the Chinese Communist Party has orchestrated the forced sterilization, enslavement, and systematic murder of the Uyghur people,” Kim said in a statement. “The United States cannot sit idly by as innocent families are torn apart, identities are erased, and generations silenced by these atrocious acts of genocide.”
Rushan Abbas executive director of the Campaign for Uyghurs and chair of the executive committee of the World Uyghur Congress, said the measure was a “vital step to ensure America stands firmly with the Uyghur people amid China’s ongoing genocide.”
“By making Uyghur human rights a clear priority in U.S. foreign policy, this bill strengthens accountability for the Chinese government’s crimes and delivers a powerful message of solidarity to millions of Uyghur families suffering under repression,” she said.
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