56 Organizations Call for Sanctions to Stop Uyghur Genocide

August 10, 2022

The Honorable Janet Yellen
Secretary of the Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest
Washington, D.C. 20220

The Honorable Antony Blinken
Secretary of State
2201 C Street Northwest
Washington, D.C. 20520

Dear Secretary Yellen and Secretary Blinken:

We, the 56 undersigned organizations dedicated to human rights in China and to the plight of persecuted ethno-religious groups in the Uyghur Region, urge you to sanction all Chinese officials responsible for the genocide in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), also known as East Turkistan. Such sanctions are required by law under Section 6 of the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 (P.L.116-145).

On May 24, the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation released the Xinjiang Police Files containing thousands of images of Uyghurs detained by XUAR authorities, detailed information about the security and operations of the internment camps, and incriminating speeches of Chinese Communist Party officials. The unprecedented materials were obtained from the largest and most significant leak of internal documents from Xinjiang police networks, consisting of tens of thousands of documents. The files were authenticated and analyzed by Dr. Adrian Zenz and a consortium of major global media outlets including the BBC, USA Today, Der Spiegel, Le Monde, and El Pais.

For the first time, the Xinjiang Police Files showed the world the faces of thousands of innocent Uyghurs, including women and children as young as 15 years old, who are being detained in brutal conditions because of their religion and ethnicity. The extensive photograph material, with over 7,000 images of camp activity, including police drills, weapons including machine guns and large clubs, 2,800+ images of detainees, proved that China’s so-called vocational training centers are in fact prisons. The files contained unusually candid speeches reflecting the intent of leading officials, including demands to treat persons from ethnic groups like dangerous criminals, to prevent any camp escapes, and to readily open fire to stop escapees and to secure the camps. The files show that Beijing considers “over two million” Uyghurs to be impacted by “extremist” religious thought, and how they are targeted for internment for ordinary, nonviolent behavior and cultural or religious expression.

The new evidence contained in the Xinjiang Police Files incriminates multiple Chinese government officials at the highest levels of the central government including:

• Zhao Kezhi, Minister of Public Security in Beijing
• Wang Yang, Head of the Central Xinjiang Work Coordination Small Group
• Guo Shengkun, Head of China’s Political and Legal Affairs Commission
• Hu Lianhe, Deputy Director of the Office of the Central Committee

The files contain constant references to General Secretary Xi himself, and shows his close interest and guiding role in the governance of Xinjiang. To date, only one central government official, former XUAR Party Secretary Chen Quanguo—who was appointed to the Politburo in 2017—has been sanctioned by the United States for their implication in the Xinjiang atrocity.

The United States officially determined in 2021 that Beijing has committed genocide against the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious groups in Xinjiang. Legislative bodies and leaders of several other governments including in Canada, the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Lithuania, the Czech Republic,  Ireland, and Germany have made similar determinations. In March 2021, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the European Union imposed coordinated sanctions on Beijing officials responsible for the atrocity. These designations marked a significant step forward in terms of holding accountable the perpetrators of atrocities against the Uyghurs and other Turkic and Muslim-majority peoples. However, given the extensive evidence revealed by the Xinjiang Police Files, the United States must without further delay sanction the officials that the documents demonstrate to be responsible. We also note that the impact of such sanctions would be bolstered if coordinated and implemented in conjunction with U.S. allies.

We strongly urge appropriate sanctions against the Chinese officials implicated by the Xinjiang Police Files in the atrocity crimes against Uyghurs and other Muslim Turkic groups. In June 2022, the European Parliament passed by an overwhelming majority a resolution which urged “Member States and the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy to swiftly adopt additional sanctions targeting high-ranking Chinese officials, such as Chen Quanguo, Zhao Kezhi, Guo Shengkun and Hu Lianhe, as well as others identified in the Xinjiang police files, and other individuals and entities, who are involved in the systematic human rights violations in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.” The European Commission has proposed an import ban on all goods produced by forced labor including manufactured goods coming from the Uyghur Region.

As stated in the Biden Administration’s 2022 Strategy to Anticipate, Prevent, and Respond to Atrocities, atrocity prevention and the promotion of respect for human rights are central to U.S. national security. China will continue its atrocious abuse of human rights in Xinjiang until the free world pushes back. We must show those officials responsible for this atrocity that neither they nor their assets are welcome in the United States until these abuses cease. By imposing stringent sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act, the United States can send a powerful message that the world will not stand by as Beijing commits atrocities in violation of the Genocide Convention of 1948.

Respectfully,

1. 3GDC
2. Academy for Jewish Religion (Yonkers, NY)
3. Adas Israel Uyghur Crisis Response Team
4. Agudas Achim Congregation
5. Alliance for Vietnam’s Democracy
6. Athenai Institute
7. Azzad Asset Management
8. Be Slavery Free
9. Bitter Winter: A Magazine on Religious Liberty and Human Rights
10. Campaign for Uyghurs
11. CaoDai Today
12. China Aid Association
13. Christ’s Mandate for Missions
14. Church of Scientology National Affairs Office
15. citizen power initiatives for china
16. Coalition for Genocide Response
17. Coalition for a Prosperous America
18. Crane Center for Mass Atrocity Prevention
19. CSW
20. Engage Action
21. End the Uyghur Genocide
22. Free Uyghur Now
23. Hong Kong Democracy Council
24. Human Rights Foundation
25. Institut de recherche et d’études stratégiques de Khyber France
26. International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China (ETAC)
27. Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County
28. Jewish Federation of Southern New Jersey
29. Jewish movement for Uyghur Freedom
30. Jewish World Watch
31. Justice For All
32. Kuen Saem
33. Lantos Foundation for Human Rights & Justice
34. Love For His People
35. Minaret Foundation
36. Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies
37. No Business With Genocide
38. Peace Catalyst International
39. Red Eagle Enterprises
40. Redeemer’s Rest
41. SAGA
42. Save the Persecuted Christians
43. Stand4Uyghurs
44. The Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong
45. The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention
46. The Uyghur Human Rights Initiative at GW Law
47. Uyghur American Association
48. Uyghur Association of Victoria, Australia
49. Uyghur Crisis Response Team
50. Uyghur Freedom Forum
51. Uyghur Human Rights Project
52. Uyghur NextGen Project
53. Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project
54. Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
55. Women’s Rights Without Frontiers
56. World Uyghur Congress

Download the letter here