UHRP Welcomes House Bill to Combat Forced Organ Harvesting
March 1, 2023, 10:00 a.m. EST
For Immediate Release
Contact: Omer Kanat +1 (202) 819-0598, Peter Irwin +1 (646) 906-7722
The Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) joins the Uyghur American Association (UAA) and Campaign for Uyghurs (CFU) in welcoming Tuesday’s unanimous House Foreign Affairs Committee approval of a forced organ harvesting bill in the US House of Representatives, which will strengthen the US government’s response to the Uyghur genocide and to the Chinese government’s brutal religious persecution.
The bipartisan bill, H.R.1154, introduced by Rep. Chris Smith and co-sponsored by Reps. Michael McCaul, Bill Keating, and Kathy Manning, calls for the imposition of sanctions and visa restrictions on those who support or facilitate forced organ harvesting, and calls for increased reporting on the issue.
“The complicity of the transplant industry in this heinous crime has to be stopped. We urge passage of the bill on the House floor and quick Senate take-up,” said Omer Kanat, UHRP Executive Director. “We are very thankful to Representatives Smith, McCaul, Keating and Manning for their leadership.”
In a statement on June 14, 2021, a group of UN experts wrote that they were “extremely alarmed by reports of alleged ‘organ harvesting’ targeting … Falun Gong practitioners, Uyghurs, Tibetans, Muslims and Christians, in detention in China,” and called on China to “promptly respond to the allegations … and to allow independent monitoring by international human rights mechanisms.”
The China Tribunal, initiated by the International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China (ETAC), found in 2018 that “forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience has been practiced for a substantial period of time involving a very substantial number of victims.”
The Smith-McCaul-Keating bill would:
- Require reports on forced organ harvesting and trafficking in persons for purposes of the removal of organs in foreign countries;
- Impose sanctions for funding, sponsoring or otherwise facilitating forced organ harvesting or trafficking in persons for purposes of the removal of organs; and
- Block and prohibit all transactions in property and interests in property and makes that person inadmissible to the United States and ineligible to receive a visa.
Read more:
UHRP Welcomes New House Bill Addressing Uyghur Genocide in Key Provisions, January 26, 2022
UHRP Celebrates Historic Uyghur Forced Labor Bill Signed into Law, December 23, 2021
UHRP Supports U.S. Bill to Create Special Coordinator to Address Uyghur Crisis, September 30, 2021
UHRP Welcomes Senate Legislation to Support Safe Haven for Uyghurs Abroad, April 13, 2021
UHRP Welcomes Bill to Provide Uyghurs Safe Haven, March 9, 2021
UHRP Urges Worldwide Action in the Wake of U.S. Genocide Finding, January 21, 2021
UHRP Praises Congressional Action Against Uyghur Forced Labor, October 1, 2020
In Historic First, Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act Becomes Law, June 17, 2020