UHRP Issues Policy Agenda on Uyghur Genocide for New Administration and 119th Congress

For immediate release
December 3, 2024 | 9:00 a.m. EDT
Contact: Omer Kanat (202) 790-1795, Peter Irwin (646) 906-7722

In 2025, the White House and Congress must urgently implement stronger policies on the Uyghur genocide, and take decisive action to counter transnational repression to protect human rights and defend U.S. sovereignty.

“The U.S. should expand Magnitsky human rights sanctions. It is critical for the U.S. to stand up forceful measure to stop foreign interference and impose real consequences for genocide of the Uyghurs,” said UHRP Executive Director Omer Kanat.

The Chinese government’s ongoing genocide of Uyghurs—marked by mass detention, torture, prevention of births, cultural erasure, and and forced labor—demands robust responses, not only to uphold global human rights norms but also to stop crimes on U.S. soil and prevent the erosion of international law.

“Chinese officials’ brazen repression across borders, targeting and intimidating Uyghur activists, journalists, and dissidents on U.S. soil, threatens fundamental freedoms under the US Constitution,” said Louisa Greve, Director of Global Advocacy.

Key priorities:

Sanctions on Perpetrators: Congress must re-authorize the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020, which sunsets in June 2025, to ensure that Global Magnitsky sanctions on 12 officials do not lapse.

End Business Complicity: Close the “de minimis” loophole for illegal imports, including goods made with Uyghur forced labor, and greatly expand President Biden’s June 2021 executive order banning U.S. persons from holding or trading Chinese companies that develop or use Chinese surveillance technology to facilitate repression or serious human rights abuse. Ensure the clean energy industry does not depend on imports made with state-imposed forced labor of Uyghurs.

Surveillance Tech and Digital Authoritarianism: UHRP calls on the White House to impose comprehensive human rights sanctions on Chinese tech giants assisting the atrocities: DJI, Dahua, Hikvision, and all surveillance companies operating in the Uyghur Region. This should include: