House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI), Congressional Executive Commission on China (CECC) Chairman Dan Sullivan (R-AK), and CECC Co-Chairman Chris Smith (R-NJ) have introduced the Uyghur Genocide and Accountability Sanctions Act of 2025. The legislation aims to address human rights abuses against Uyghurs in the People’s Republic of China.
Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Representative Tom Suozzi (D-NY), both CECC Commissioners, joined in introducing the bill.
The proposed act would expand existing sanctions under the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act. It targets crimes such as forced organ harvesting, coercive abortions, and forced separation of children from their families. The bill mandates visa bans for foreign nationals involved in forced sterilizations and population control campaigns. It also seeks to ban Chinese seafood in Defense Department facilities due to concerns about links to forced labor involving Uyghurs and North Koreans.
Additional provisions include authorizing support services for survivors now living outside China, promoting cultural preservation for minorities, prohibiting U.S. government procurement from entities connected to forced labor or atrocity crimes, countering propaganda that denies genocide, and supporting investigations into atrocity crimes for future prosecutions.
Chairman Moolenaar stated: "The CCP’s genocide against the Uyghurs is one of the gravest human rights atrocities of our time. This bill ensures the United States leads with strength and principle by imposing tougher sanctions, banning visas for abusers, and cutting off taxpayer contracts linked to forced labor. It also provides critical support to survivors and pushes back against the CCP’s propaganda machine. If we truly believe in human dignity, then accountability must be the foundation of our policy toward China."
Chairman Sullivan added: “The evidence is clear. The Chinese Communist Party has waged a deliberate and systematic campaign to destroy the Uygur people through forced sterilization, mass internment, and forced labor. This legislation ensures the United States holds accountable not only the perpetrators of these horrific crimes but also those who support or profit from them. That includes cutting off imports of seafood caught and processed with forced labor, which not only implicates Uyghur and North Korean workers, but also undermines American producers through grossly unfair trade practices."
Co-Chairman Smith said: “Genocide is not a relic of the past—it is happening now, on our watch. The CCP’s cruel efforts to erase the Uyghur people and their culture are among the most egregious human rights violations in modern history. This bill responds with clear-eyed resolve: targeted sanctions, visa bans, survivor support, and strong measures to end complicity in these crimes. We cannot remain silent while atrocity crimes unfold in real time."
Commissioner Merkley commented: “As long as the People’s Republic of China continues to bulldoze the human rights of Uyghurs and other vulnerable groups, the United States must do everything we can to call out the horrific genocide and systemic abuses. This bipartisan bill builds on my Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act by expanding sanctions and delivering new tools to hold the Chinese government accountable for its horrifying surveillance regime, mass imprisonment, torture, and so-called ‘re-education camps’ inflicted on Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities. We must swiftly pass this legislation to stand up to China’s ongoing campaign of repression."
Commissioner Suozzi said: “The Chinese Communist Party is carrying out a campaign of systematic repression against Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic and religious minorities, including mass detention, torture, forced labor, and ethnic cleansing. The bipartisan Uyghur Genocide Accountability and Sanctions Act will intensify sanctions on CCP officials responsible for these atrocities and enhance our ability to document and expose human rights abuses. As Co-Chair of the Uyghur Caucus, I’m committed to making this legislation a top priority for this Congress."
