Sec. 307. Uyghur human rights protection
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This section may be cited as the . Uyghur Human Rights Protection Act Congress makes the following findings: The Government of the People’s Republic of China
(PRC)has a long history of repressing Turkic Muslims and other Muslim minority groups, particularly Uyghurs, in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (commonly referred to as Xinjiang or XUAR ), also known as East Turkestan. Central and regional PRC government policies have systematically discriminated against these minority groups by denying them a range of civil and political rights, particularly freedom of religion. Senior Chinese Communist Party
(CCP)officials bear direct responsibility for these gross human rights violations. PRC government abuses include the arbitrary detention of more than 1,000,000 Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minority groups, separation of working age adults from their children and elderly parents, and the integration of forced labor into supply chains. Those held in detention facilities and internment camps in the XUAR have described forced political indoctrination, torture, beatings, food deprivation, sexual assault, coordinated campaigns to reduce birth rates among Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims through forced sterilization, and denial of religious, cultural, and linguistic freedoms. Recent media reports indicate that since 2019, the PRC government has newly constructed, expanded, or fortified at least 60 detention facilities with higher security or prison-like features in Xinjiang. The PRC government’s actions against Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minority groups in the XUAR violate international human rights laws and norms, including— the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, to which the PRC has acceded; the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which the PRC has signed and ratified; The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which the PRC has signed and ratified; the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the PRC has signed; and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Labor Organization’s Force Labor Convention (no. 29) and the Abolition of Forced Labor Convention (no. 105). The Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall designate, as Priority 2 refugees of special humanitarian concern— aliens who were nationals of the PRC and residents of the XUAR on January 1, 2021; aliens who fled the XUAR after June 30, 2009, and reside in other provinces of the PRC or in a third country where such alien is not firmly resettled; and the spouses, children, and parents (as such terms are defined in subsections
(a)and
(b)of section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act ( 8 U.S.C. 1101 )) of individuals described in subparagraphs
(A)and (B), except that a child shall be an unmarried person under 27 years of age. The processing of individuals described in paragraph
(1)for classification as refugees may occur in the PRC or a third country. Aliens described in subparagraph
(B)may establish, for purposes of admission as a refugee under section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act ( 8 U.S.C. 1157 ) or asylum under section 208 of such Act ( 8 U.S.C. 1158 ), that such alien has a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion by asserting such a fear and asserting a credible basis for concern about the possibility of such persecution. An alien is described in this subsection if such alien has been identified as a person of special humanitarian concern pursuant to paragraph
(1)and— has experienced persecution in the XUAR by the PRC government, including— forced and arbitrary detention including in an internment or re-education camp; forced political indoctrination, torture, beatings, food deprivation, and denial of religious, cultural, and linguistic freedoms; forced labor; forced separation from family members; other forms of systemic threats, harassment, and gross human rights violations; or has been formally charged, detained, or convicted on account of their peaceful actions as described in the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 ( Public Law 116–145 ). is currently a national of the PRC whose residency in the XUAR, or any other area within the jurisdiction of the PRC, was revoked for having submitted to any United States Government agency a nonfrivolous application for refugee status, asylum, or any other immigration benefit under United States law. An alien may not be denied the opportunity to apply for admission as a refugee or asylum under this section solely because such alien qualifies as an immediate relative of a national of the United States or is eligible for admission to the United States under any other immigrant classification. The Secretary of State shall prioritize bilateral diplomacy with third countries hosting former residents of the XUAR and who face significant diplomatic pressures from the PRC government. Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act and every 90 days thereafter, the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees, the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives, and the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate a report on the matters described in subparagraph (B). Each report required by subparagraph
(A)shall include, with respect to applications submitted under this section— the total number of applications that are pending at the end of the reporting period; the average wait-times and number of applicants who are currently pending— a pre-screening interview with a resettlement support center; an interview with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services; the completion of security checks; receipt of a final decision after completion of an interview with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services; and the number of denials of applications for refugee status, disaggregated by the reason for each such denial. Each report required by paragraph
(1)shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex. The Secretary of State shall make each report submitted under this subsection available to the public on the internet website of the Department of State. It is the policy of the United States to encourage United States allies and partners to make accommodations similar to the accommodations made in this section for residents of the XUAR who are fleeing oppression by the PRC Government. This section shall terminate on the date that is ten years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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