Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act
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Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020
Great Seal of the United States
Long title An act to condemn gross human rights violations of ethnic Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang, and calling for an end to arbitrary detention, torture, and harassment of these communities inside and outside China.
Nicknames Uyghur Act
Enacted by the 116th United States Congress
Effective June 17, 2020
Citations
Public law Pub.L. 116–145
Legislative history
Introduced in the Senate as S. 3744 by Marco Rubio (R-FL) on May 14, 2020
Passed the Senate on May 14, 2020 (Unanimous consent)
Passed the House as the Uighur Intervention and Global Humanitarian Unified Response Act of 2019 on May 27, 2020 (413–1)
Signed into law by President Donald Trump on June 17, 2020
The Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 (formerly Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019) (S. 3744; Pub.L. 116–145) is a United States federal law that requires various United States government bodies to report on the treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, China, including internment in the Xinjiang re-education camps.[1][2]
On September 11, 2019, a version of the bill was passed in the United States Senate by unanimous consent.[3][4][5] On December 3, 2019, a stronger version of the bill was passed by the United States House of Representatives by a vote of 407–1.[2] The revised bill was introduced and approved by the United States Senate on May 14, 2020.[2][4][6] On May 27, 2020, The House of Representatives voted 413–1 and passed the amended bill, sending it to President Donald Trump for approval.[7] The bill was signed by President Trump into law on June 17, 2020.[8]
Contents
1 Legislative history
2 Legislation
3 Reactions
3.1 Domestic
3.2 International
4 See also
5 References
6 External links
Legislative history
On September 11, 2019, a version of the bill—S. 178, the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019—passed in the United States Senate by unanimous consent.[4][5][9]
On December 3, 2019, a stronger, amended version of the bill—the Uighur Intervention and Global Humanitarian Unified Response Act (UIGHUR Act)—was passed by the United States House of Representatives by a vote of 407 to 1.[2][10][4][11] The sole "no" vote was cast by Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky.[11]
On the afternoon of May 14, 2020, a new version of the bill—S. 3744, the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 passed in the United States Senate by unanimous consent.[12] The House of Representatives approved the bill by a vote of 413–1 on May 27, 2020.[7] President Trump signed the bill into law on June 17, 2020.[8][13][14][15]
Legislation
The bill would direct the Director of National Intelligence to report to Congress on security issues caused by the Chinese government's reported crackdown on Uyghurs in Xinjiang, the Federal Bureau of Investigation to report on efforts to protect Uyghurs and Chinese nationals in the United States, the U.S. Agency for Global Media to report on Chinese media related issues in Xinjiang, and for the United States Department of State to report on the scope of the reported Chinese government crackdown on Uyghurs in Xinjiang.[1]
The bill would also call on United States President Donald Trump 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.[16][17]
Reactions
Domestic
Editorials in The New York Times and The Washington Post supported the passage of the Act.[18][19] Opinion pieces written in various publications also supported the passage of the Act.[20]
International
A World Uyghur Congress spokesman said on December 3, 2019 that the House bill is important in opposing "China's continued push of extreme persecution" and that the organization looks forward to President Trump signing the bill.[16][21] Uyghur activists, think tank analysts and political representatives called on various governments to sanction Mainland Chinese officials for their perceived involvement in the Xinjiang conflict.[22]
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.[16] On December 4, 2019, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said that the bill "wantonly smeared China's counter-terrorism and de-radicalization efforts".[2] On December 8, 2019, Minfeng/Niya County (in eastern Hotan Prefecture, southern Xinjiang) County Communist Party Committee Vice Secretary (委副书记) and County Magistrate (县长) Aizezi Aili (艾则孜·艾力) and Kashgar Prefecture Communist Party Committee Vice Secretary and Commissioner (喀什地委副书记、行署专员) Pa'erhati Rouzi (帕尔哈提·肉孜) penned criticisms of the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act.[23][24] The claim of deradicalization drew criticism in an article by the Deccan Chronicle[25] while an article written by Srikanth Kondapalli made criticisms of the PRC's grand strategy for Xinjiang.[26]
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[16] while the BBC's China correspondent said that if the bill became law, then it would mark the most significant international attempt to pressure Mainland China over its mass detention of the Uyghurs.[21]
On December 6, 2019, the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates defended China's actions in Xinjiang in response to the passage of the act, stating that it is a "blatant interference by the US in the internal affairs of the People’s Republic of China." The statement concluded that “Syria emphasises the right of China to preserve its sovereignty, people, territorial integrity, and security and protect the security and property of the state and individuals.”[27]
In June 2020, co-founder of the Uyghur Human Rights Project and former President of the Uyghur American Association Nury Turkel, said that the U.S. government must use the new bill to impose sanctions on Chinese officials for religious persecution. He also urged Congress to pass a second bill, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which would direct the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to presume that any goods produced in the Uyghur region are the product of forced labor.[28]