Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., introduced legislation to work against genocide in China, which gained support from the Uyghur Human Rights Project in light of China's reported history of human rights abuses against its own people.
Rubio, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee responsible for overseeing global human rights and Senate ranking member of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, introduced the Uyghur Policy Act to the Senate April 7 to increase the United States' support of Uyghur Muslims, Rubio's office said in an April 7 release.
"The CCP is carrying out a disgusting campaign of genocide and human rights abuses committed against Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic groups," Rubio said in the release. "The United States cannot be silent in the face of such horrific abuse. I'm proud to introduce legislation to increase awareness and advocacy for Uyghurs, and I urge my colleagues to quickly pass this bill."
Elements of the bill would elevate the issues of the Uyghur population, create a strategy on how to gain access to detainment facilities, instruct the Department of State to make Uyghur language training available for foreign service officers and instruct the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations to go against all motions that would bar the U.N. from considering topics relating to Uyghurs and the Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region, Rubio's office said.
"This legislation is essential to coordinate a whole-of-government approach to respond to the Uyghur crisis," Uyghur Human Rights Project Executive Director Omer Kanat said in an April 8 news release.
Companion legislation, the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2021, was introduced in a House bill by Reps. Young Kim, R-Calif., and Ami Bera, D-Calif., the Uyghur Human Rights Project said in a release.
