UHRP Hails Creation of China Atrocity Crimes Coordinator by US Congress

December 15, 2023 | 4:00 p.m. EST
For Immediate Release
Contact: Omer Kanat +1 (202) 790-1795, Peter Irwin +1 (646) 906-7722

The Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) welcomes the creation of a Coordinator for Accountability on Atrocities of the People’s Republic of China, within the US government.

The coordinator’s role is to increase collection and analysis of data necessary for government action to counter egregious human rights abuses, including the Uyghur genocide. The measure passed with bipartisan, bicameral support in the Congress on December 14, with the passage of the FY 2024 National Defense Authorization Act.

“We have been calling for more sanctions. We are optimistic that the new atrocities coordinator will be able to step up collection of information to impose human rights sanctions on those responsible for the genocide against the Uyghur people,” said Omer Kanat, Uyghur Human Rights Project Executive Director. “The perpetrators need to pay a heavy price under US human-rights law.”

Sanctions are mandatory for all perpetrators of the atrocities against Uyghurs, under the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 and the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) of 2021, using the sanctions mechanism under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act.

The new Coordinator is tasked with analyzing the activities of officials suspected of being responsible for atrocities in China, in order to support the efforts of several government agencies to hold the People’s Republic of China accountable. That includes the Department of State, the Department of the Treasury, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Department of Commerce, the Bureau of Industry and Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the National Security Council, as well as the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force (FLETF) and the Atrocities Early Warning Task Force.

The Coordinator will also be responsible for making research available to the American public and the international community, in order to counter the disinformation and misinformation campaign by the Chinese government denying atrocities. 

Read more:

Without Human Rights Sanctions, the World Is Normalizing China’s Genocide of Uyghurs, by Omer Kanat in The Diplomat, August 15, 2023

The Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act is US Law. Where Are the Sanctions?, by Omer Kanat, in The Diplomat, June 15, 2023