‘Stop genocide of the Uyghurs’

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The Uyghur community all over the globe has welcomed the decision taken by the Donald Trump administration to sanction one Chinese government entity, as well as four government officials involved in human rights violations against the Uyghur people in East Turkistan.

The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had earlier this week sanctioned Xinjiang Public Security Bureau (XPSB) and four officials, including Chen Quanguo (Communist Party Secretary of XUAR, the regional government of Xinjiang), Zhu Hailun (a former Deputy Party Secretary of the XUAR), Wang Mingshan (Director and Communist Party Secretary, XPSB) and Huo Liujun (former party secretary, XPSB) for their connection to serious human rights abuse against ethnic minorities in Xinjiang.

The department said violations committed by the four reportedly include mass arbitrary detention and severe physical abuse, among other serious abuses targeting Uyghurs, a Turkic Muslim population indigenous to Xinjiang, and other ethnic minorities in the region.

"The United States will not stand idly by as the CCP carries out human rights abuses targeting Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, and members of other minority groups in Xinjiang, to include forced labor, arbitrary mass detention, and forced population control, and attempts to erase their culture and Muslim faith," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement

The Washington-based Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP), the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress (WUC) and Campaign for Uyghurs, which works to promote and advocate for the human rights and democratic freedoms for the Uyghurs and other Turkic people in East Turkistan (referred to in China as 'Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region') applauded the long-awaited sanction developments.

"This action comes on the heels of the newly signed Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act, and it is a major step to ensuring justice and accountability for the ongoing genocide committed by the CCP against Uyghurs. These sanctions will let the CCP know that they will no longer commit atrocities against Uyghur with impunity. We thank the US government for this vital step and urge other world leaders to follow suit. Only through concrete action like this can we stop the Uyghur genocide and end the suffering of the Uyghur people," said Dolkun Isa, president of the World Uyghur Congress.

Campaign for Uyghurs, headed by Uyghur American activist Rushan Abbas, said it received the news of sanctions with "bittersweet" sentiments.

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"The sanctions brought forth today against Chen Quanguo, Huo Liujun, Wang Mingshan, and Zhu Hailun should remind the world that the Chinese regime worships only money and tyranny, and therefore we must use the language that these pathetic individuals speak in order to end their ability to carry out such evil actions. History will remember these so-called "officials" as the sick, deranged, genocidal terrorists that they are, but at present, we need the entire international community to replicate and multiply similar actions in order to force the Chinese regime to halt its annihilation of the Uyghur people," it said in a statement.

UHRP executive director Omer Kanat noted that he had been calling for sanctions since 2018.

"A global response is long overdue… Now there is finally action by one government. Will other countries wait until it is indeed too late? This is the beginning of the end of impunity for the Chinese government," Kanat said.

The Xinjiang region in western China is home to Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, ethnic Kyrgyz, and other traditionally Muslim minority groups. XUAR is the regional government of Xinjiang and falls under the governance of the People's Republic of China (PRC).

Uyghurs (alternatively spelled Uighurs, Uygurs, etc.) are ethnically and culturally a Turkic people living in the areas of Central Asia commonly known as East Turkistan. The area is vast, constituting one-sixth of the total land area under the control of the People’s Republic of China. The Uyghurs have a rich cultural history going back almost 4,000 years. Before embracing Islam in 10th century, Uyghurs believed in Buddhism, Manichaeism and Nestorian Christianity. Today, Uyghurs practice a moderate form of Sufi Islam and lead predominantly secular lives.

These designations are the latest US government actions in an ongoing effort to deter human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region.

On July 1, 2020, the US Department of State, along with the US Department of the Treasury, the US Department of Commerce, and the US Department of Homeland Security, issued the Xinjiang Supply Chain Business Advisory, advising businesses with potential supply chain exposure to Xinjiang to consider the reputational, economic, and legal risks of involvement with entities that engage in human rights abuses in Xinjiang, such as forced labor.

On May 22, 2020, the US Department of Commerce added nine PRC entities related to human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region to the Commerce Entity List; this action complemented the October 2019 addition to the Commerce Entity List of 28 entities engaged in the PRC repression campaign in the Xinjiang region. Also, in October 2019, the US Department of State announced a visa restriction policy under section 212 (a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act for PRC and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials responsible for, or complicit in, human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

"I am also placing additional visa restrictions on other CCP officials believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, the unjust detention or abuse of Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, and members of other minority groups in Xinjiang pursuant to the policy announced in October 2019 under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Their family members may also be subject to these restrictions," Pompeo said in a strongly-worded statement..