Rep. Kim’s Bill Supporting Uyghurs, Other Ethnic Minority Groups Persecuted By Chinese Communist Party Passes In House

U.S. officials have labeled China’s policies in the Xinjiang region a “genocide,” while the U.N human rights office said evidence pointing to alleged “crimes against humanity” committed by the CCP exists.

California Republican U.S. Rep. Young Kim’s bill directing the State Department to support Uyghurs and other ethnic minority groups persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party passed in the House of Representatives overwhelmingly earlier this month.

Kim, representing parts of Orange County and the Inland Empire in California's 40th District, led fellow lawmakers in an updated version of the Uyghur Policy Act after previous drafts failed in past congressional sessions. Although the bill passed the lower chamber of Congress 414-6 with bipartisan and bicameral support, it still faces an uphill battle in the Senate. 

“Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities – just because of their identity – are repeatedly silenced, detained, imprisoned, tortured, and brainwashed in concentration camps led by the Chinese Communist Party. We must show through our words and actions that we stand against Uyghur genocide and the CCP’s repeated disinformation, coercion, and abuse,” Kim said in a news release.

Kim, who also chairs the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Indo-Pacific, said the policy act would equip U.S. officials with tools needed to support the basic human rights of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, who have been subjected to atrocities by China’s communist government.

The bill would authorize the State Department to offer Uyghur language classes to diplomats, place Uyghur speakers in all consulates in China, and include Uyghurs in speaking programs in Muslim-majority countries.

“I will continue to fight to get this done, firmly push back against the CCP’s abuses, and support human rights and freedom around the world,” Kim added.

Rep. Ami Bera, a California Democrat who represents California's 6th congressional district in Sacramento County and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Indo-Pacific Subcommittee, co-led the introduction of the bill, which has also been co-sponsored by 104 other House members.

“This bill takes crucial steps to bolster American efforts to safeguard the distinct ethnic, religious, cultural, and linguistic identity of the Uyghur people and promote respect for human rights and religious freedom in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region,” Bera said The United States Congress must remain vigilant in our efforts to uphold human rights at home and abroad.”

The bill now heads to the Senate, where it must go through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee before reaching the floor for a vote in the upper chamber of Congress. 

U.S. officials have labeled China’s policies in the Xinjiang region a “genocide,” while the U.N human rights office said evidence pointing to alleged “crimes against humanity” committed by the CCP exists, according to Radio Free Asia.

Omer Kanat, executive director of the Uyghur Human Rights Project, said that Uyghurs have been suffering “ongoing atrocity crimes” for at least seven years.

“With Rep. Kim’s hard work and tremendous bipartisan support for passage of the Uyghur Policy Act, Uyghurs know they are not forgotten,” Kanat said in a news release. “We are asking the Senate to act without delay.”