60 Groups Push Passage of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act

Campaign For Uyghurs joined a group of 60 organizations in requesting urgent passage of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.

The letter can be viewed below:

May 26, 2021

The Honorable Bob Menendez
Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
423 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable James Risch
Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
423 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Chairman Menendez and Ranking Member Risch,

We are writing to urge you to discharge S.65, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, from committee this work period so it may move through the Senate. The bill already has 49 cosponsors from both parties, making it one of the most broadly supported and bipartisan foreign policy bills before the Senate. As you know, repression of religion in China has reached new lows under the rule of Communist Party Secretary and President Xi Jinping. The situation for Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious groups in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) is dire, and the need for action from Congress on S.65 is urgent. The so-called “re-education” campaign waged against Uyghurs and other groups has systematically imprisoned more than one million men, women, and children. Survivors have described, and researchers have substantiated, serious atrocities throughout the extensive network of prisons and extrajudicial detention centers, including rape, forced sterilization, forced abortion, forced labor, and torture.

The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act is necessary because it would ensure Americans are not complicit in these crimes – which both the Trump and Biden Administrations have declared genocide. By prohibiting the importation of goods from XUAR unless U.S. Customs and Border Protection can certify that the goods have not been made with forced labor, the burden of proof will fall on the importers to show their compliance with existing U.S. law. S.65 would also impose targeted sanctions against each foreign person found to be responsible for labor trafficking of Uyghurs and other religious and ethnic groups, and require the U.S. government to develop a strategy to address forced labor in the Uyghur Region.

Swift passage of S.65 is also particularly important because it would impose economic pressure on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), an important point of leverage given that the Chinese economy is heavily dependent on exports and since the CCP often uses its economic power to silence other countries and private businesses from speaking out on human rights violations in China.

We appreciate your leadership on human rights issues and urge you to discharge this bill from committee so it can be passed by the full Senate, passed in the House, and signed into law without delay.

Sincerely,

1. Freedom House
2. Uyghur American Association
3. Uyghur Human Rights Project
4. Adrian Dominican Sisters, Portfolio Advisory Board
5. Australian East Turkistan Association
6. Australian Uyghur Tangritagh Women’s Association
7. Belgium Uyghur Association
8. Boston Uyghur Association
9. Campaign For Uyghurs
10. China Against the Death Penalty
11. China Aid Association
12. Citizen Power Initiatives for China
13. Congregation of St. Joseph
14. Crane Center for Mass Atrocity Prevention
15. Dana Investment Advisors
16. Daughters of Charity, Province of St. Louise
17. Detroit Jewish Community Relations Council/American Jewish Committee (JCRC/AJC)
18. Dutch Uyghur Human Rights and Democracy Foundation
19. East Turkistan Association of Canada
20. East Turkistan Education and Solidarity Association
21. East Turkistan Foundation
22. East Turkistan Human Rights Observatory Center
23. East Turkistan Union in Europe
24. Figure 8 Investment Strategies
25. Heartland Initiative
26. Hong Kong Democracy Council (HKDC)
27. Hong Kong Global Connect
28. Human Rights Foundation
29. Humanitarian China
30. ICNA Council for Social Justice
31. International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China (ETAC)
32. Isa Yusuf Alptekin Foundation
33. Japan Uyghur Association
34. Jewish Movement for Uyghur Freedom
35. Jewish World Watch
36. Justice For All- Save Uighur Campaign
37. Mercy Investment Services, Inc.
38. Minaret Foundation
39. Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies
40. Northwest Coalition for Responsible Investment
41. Norwegian Uyghur Committee
42. Nozugum Foundation
43. Nurgul Sawut
44. Office for Human Dignity- Diocese of Joliet
45. Presentation Sisters of Aberdeen SD
46. Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth
47. Sisters of Mary Reparatrix
48. STAND: The student-led movement to end mass atrocities
49. Sweden Uyghur Education Union
50. Switzerland Uyghur Association
51. UK Uighur Association
52. United Macedonian Diaspora
53. Uyghur Human Rights and Democracy Center
54. Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project
55. Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project, Canada
56. Uyghur Transitional Justice Database
57. Victoria Uyghur Association
58. Visual Artists Guild
59. World Uyghur Congress
60. 21Wilberforce