Sanctions on UHRP Board Chair, USCIRF, Demonstrate CCP Anxiety Over Increased Pressure

For immediate release
December 22, 2021 2:56 p.m. EST
Uyghur Human Rights Project
Contact: Omer Kanat +1 (202) 790-1795, Peter Irwin +1 (646) 906-7722

The Chinese government’s December 21 announcement of sanctions on four Americans is a sign that international outrage is hitting the mark. 

Attorney Nury Turkel, who is Chair of the UHRP Board and Vice Chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), was named along with USCIRF Chair Nadine Maenza, and Commissioners Anurima Bhargava and James Carr.

Omer Kanat, UHRP Executive Director, said in response, “China is feeling the heat and it’s clear that they are attempting to silence officials calling out their atrocities.”

“Those sanctioned are ‘human rights heroes’ to Uyghurs around the world,” Kanat continued.

Former USCIRF Chair Gayle Manchin and Vice Chair Tony Perkins were also sanctioned in March 2021. 

Escalating international pressure on China for its atrocity crimes against the Uyghur people has reached a high point since the beginning of December.

The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act was passed by Congress on December 16, and awaits signature by the President and the US Treasury added nine Chinese companies to an investment blacklist and enacted a visa ban on two high-level Chinese officials. Also in December, the Uyghur Tribunal concluded that genocide and crimes against humanity have been committed against Uyghurs, and the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning the genocide. 

The growing diplomatic boycott of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics has also demonstrated international revulsion at the Chinese government’s crimes, with announcements in December by the governments of the UK, Canada, Australia, Kosovo, and the U.S.

Read more:

UHRP Welcomes Latest Magnitsky Sanctions on Perpetrators of Uyghur Genocide, SenseTime Investment Ban, December 16, 2021

UHRP Hails Passage of Uyghur Forced Labor Bill, Urges President’s Signature, December 16, 2021

Fortune Magazine Names Nury Turkel to “World’s 50 Greatest Leaders” List, March 17, 2021

UHRP Board Chair named to TIME’s 100 most influential people, September 22, 2021

Appointment of UHRP Board Chair Nury Turkel to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, May 26, 2020