Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act

In 2014 the Chinese government introduced the Strike Hard Campaign Against Violent Terrorism in reaction to several terrorist attacks with responsibility claimed by Uyghur separatist groups and exile groups. Beginning in 2017, under Xinjiang CCP Secretary Chen Quanguo, the government incarcerated over an estimated one million Uyghurs without legal process in internment camps officially described as "vocational education and training centers". China began to wind down the camps in 2019. According to Amnesty International, detainees have been increasingly transferred to the formal penal system. In addition to mass detention, government policies have included forced labor and factory work, suppression of Uyghur religious practices, political indoctrination, forced sterilization, forced contraception, and forced abortion. == Legislative history ==

(Vol. 165 pages S5450-S5452) On September 11, 2019, a version of the bill—S. 178, the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019—passed in the US Senate by unanimous consent. The sole "no" vote was cast by Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky. The US House of Representatives approved the bill by a vote of 413–1 on May 27, 2020. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025 extended the act's expiration date from 2025 to 2030. ==Legislation content and results==

The bill directs: (1) the Director of National Intelligence to report to Congress on security issues caused by the Chinese government's reported crackdown on Uyghurs in Xinjiang; (2) the Federal Bureau of Investigation to report on efforts to protect Uyghurs and Chinese nationals in the United States; (3) the US Agency for Global Media to report on Chinese media related issues in Xinjiang; and (4) the United States Department of State to report on the scope of the reported Chinese government crackdown on Uyghurs in Xinjiang. The bill also calls on the President to impose sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act on Xinjiang Communist Party Secretary Chen Quanguo, which would be the first time such sanctions would be imposed on a member of China's politburo. On July 9, 2020, the Trump administration imposed sanctions and visa restrictions against senior Chinese officials, including Quanguo, as well as Zhu Hailun, Wang Mingshan (), and Huo Liujun (). With sanctions, they and their immediate relatives are barred from entering the US and will have US-based assets frozen. In December 2021, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act was passed. The act discussed the US' responsibility (as well as Mexico's and Canada's) in preventing forced labor and human trafficking for labor. The act imposes sanctions and some prohibitions on listed companies in the region in line with Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930. On November 25, 2024, the largest expansion of the list of companies not complying with the act was passes by the US Department of Homeland Security. In April 2024 a new act was introduced to Congress titled Uyghur Genocide Accountability and Sanctions Act of 2024. This act proposes new, more severe, amendments to the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020. ==Reactions==

Support On the same day that then-President Trump signed the Act into law, former National Security Advisor John Bolton claimed that Trump had, on two occasions, told Chinese leader Xi Jinping to go forward with plans related to Uyghur internment. Editorials in The New York Times and The Washington Post supported the passage of the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act. Opinion pieces written in various publications also supported the passage of the Act. The CCP claim of deradicalization drew criticism in an article by the Deccan Chronicle, while an article written by Srikanth Kondapalli made criticisms of the PRC's grand strategy for Xinjiang. Analysts cited in an article by Reuters said that mainland China's response to passage of the Uyghur bill could be stronger than its reaction to the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, Uyghur community On December 3, 2019, a World Uyghur Congress spokesman said that the House bill is important in opposing "China's continued push of extreme persecution," and that the organization looks forward to Trump signing the bill. Nury Turkel, former President of the Uyghur American Association, thanked Trump for signing the Act and urged Congress to pass a second Uyghur-related bill, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act which passed in 2021. Opposition The Chinese government have called the bill a malicious attack on China and demanded that the United States prevent it from becoming law, warning that it would act to defend its interests as necessary. State media commentator and then-editor-in-chief of the CCP-owned tabloid Global Times, Hu Xilin, incorporated the bill's passage into his nationalist rhetoric and criticized it as another example of an anti-China legislation. In December 2019, the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates defended China's actions in Xinjiang and condemned the bill as a "blatant interference by the US in the internal affairs of the People's Republic of China." ==See also==