USCIRF urges Trump administration to swiftly enforce Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) on Thursday urged the country's government to swiftly enforce the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act.

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) on Thursday urged the country's government to swiftly enforce the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act. "USCIRF urges the administration to enforce the Act and issue immediate and targeted sanctions against Chinese government officials responsible for the persecution of Uyghurs. The administration must take meaningful action now to condemn China's crimes against humanity, modern slavery, and cultural genocide," the USCIRF said in an official statement.

The US Senate and House of Representatives passed the bill last month. The act was signed by US President Donald Trump on Wednesday. "Concentration camps, forced labor, harassment, and intrusive surveillance technology being used by the Chinese Communist Party have been instruments of religious suppression, crimes against humanity, modern slavery, and cultural genocide; this should not and cannot ever be tolerated," the statement further reads.

The Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act directs the administration to impose financial sanctions and visa bans under the Global Magnitsky Act against Chinese government officials responsible for the persecution of Uyghur and other Muslims. The law also requires federal government agencies to report on human rights abuses in Xinjiang and attempts by Chinese government agents to harass Uyghurs and Chinese nationals in the United States.