For several years, China has been perpetrating mass human rights abuses against the Uyghur Muslims and other religious minorities. The Chinese government has built a vast network of detention centers in Xinjiang Province, imposed surveillance tracking systems, detained as many as 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), and coerced assimilation.
The American government has formally called the Chinese government’s treatment of the Uyghurs genocide and has enacted sanctions – with cooperation from allies like the European Union and Canada – against individuals and organizations in China who are perpetrating the atrocities against the Uyghurs. In December 2021, President Biden signed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act into law, but there is still more to be done to help alleviate the plight of the Uyghurs.
Urge your members of Congress to support the Uyghur Human Rights Protection Act, which would designate persecuted peoples who reside in Xinjiang and face persecution because of their peaceful political, religious, or cultural practices (such as the Uyghurs) to be prioritized refugees of special humanitarian concern.
Background
China’s atrocities against the Uyghurs include surveillance, repression of Uyghur religious practices (including the destruction of over 9,000 mosques in Xinjiang and forced consumption of alcohol and/or pork in violation of Muslim teachings), political indoctrination, physical abuse, sexual violence (including rape and sexual assault), torture, forced internment, forced labor, forced separation of families, and involuntary sterilization, contraception, and abortion. U.N. human rights experts have also received information about alleged organ harvesting.
Chinese surveillance of the Uyghurs and absolute control over state media severely restricts the Uyghurs’ ability to leave. Even if Uyghurs are able to leave, Chinese authorities threaten them or harm their family members still in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). The Chinese have denied the U.N. Commissioner on Human Rights access to Xinjiang. Because China is not a signatory to the Rome Statute (which governs the International Criminal Court), the ICC has declined to prosecute.
The Uyghur Human Rights Protection Act (H.R. 1630/S. 1080 in the 117th Congress) would grant priority refugee status to people persecuted by the Chinese government, including Uyghurs and other Turkic or Muslim minorities in China. The bill would make it easier for them to apply for resettlement in the United States and encourage our allies to implement similar refugee policies.
Jewish Values
As Jews, we know the dangers of religious persecution. The United States has long been a safe haven from state-sponsored, violent antisemitism. We remember our own history, wrought with the pain of bigotry and discrimination and the price of silence and inaction. We cannot allow any other persecuted people to suffer similar atrocities. In the Holiness Code (Kedoshim), we are commanded, "You may not stand idly by when your neighbor's blood is being shed" (Leviticus 19:16). We stand by those who are persecuted and seek safe refugee: “Love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Leviticus 19:34).
For More Information
For more information on this issue, please visit the RAC’s International Religious Freedom webpage. You can also contact Eisendrath Legislative Assistant Shayna Han.