Uighur rights activists on Tuesday pushed for greater opposition to China after a Monday report revealed the communist regime’s widespread practice of forced sterilizations and abortions for members of the Muslim minority.
The report, published by the Associated Press, detailed how the Chinese government has been committing “demographic genocide” by forcibly cutting birthrates in the Uighur population. The revelation came only a week after President Trump signed the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act, which requires the United States to levy sanctions against communist leaders in the Xinjiang province, where many Uighurs are held in concentration camps.
But with the new knowledge of the systemic and organized practices of ethnic cleansing, many Uighur rights advocates are saying that the Trump administration should do more. Nury Turkel, the Uighur commissioner for the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a federal watchdog, urged the government to investigate the findings to see if they meet the international definition of “genocide.”
Turkel also advised that the government bring the issue before the United Nations, as it has with past violations of human rights against Uighurs. USCIRF Commissioner Gary Bauer added that Trump should use the Associated Press report as an occasion to “swiftly impose” the sanctions outlined in the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act to combat China’s “heinous policy.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also commented on the report, calling it “shocking,” and demanded that China put an end to the practice of forced sterilization.
Members of Congress who were involved in the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act, which passed both houses in a near-unanimous vote, used the opportunity to push for more pressure on China.
Idaho Sen. Jim Risch, who chairs the Foreign Relations Committee, called the findings in the report “beyond deplorable,” adding that “a nation that treats its own people this way should never be considered a great power.”
Virginia Rep. Jennifer Wexton, a Democrat, called the revelations “horrifying” and said that the U.S. must consider further action.
“These are crimes against humanity and we must hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable,” she tweeted.
New York Rep. Eliot Engel, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, asked for an international investigation, saying that if true, the report indicates “genocidal intent” on the part of the Chinese government to destroy the Uighur people.
Engel also criticized the Trump administration for allegedly “trading U.S. leadership for a trade deal,” a reference to former national security adviser John Bolton’s accusation that Trump had told Chinese leader Xi Jinping to “go ahead with building the camps, which he thought was exactly the right thing to do.”
Although Bolton’s accusation has been denied by the Trump administration, the president drew criticism for signing the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act only an hour after Bolton leaked the claim.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi at the time said that Trump’s actions undermined the “moral authority” the U.S. has in demanding that other countries respect human rights.
“President Trump’s admission that he is looking the other way and enabling one of the worst human rights atrocities of our time in order to ink a trade deal is appalling,” she said in a statement.
