Sec. 2. Findings

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Congress finds the following: The Government of the People’s Republic of China (referred to in this section as the PRC ) has a long history of repressing Turkic Muslims and other predominantly Muslim ethnic groups, particularly Uyghurs, living in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (referred to in this section as Xinjiang ). Central and regional Chinese government policies have systematically discriminated against and oppressed these groups by denying them a range of civil and political rights, particularly freedom of religion.

In May 2014, the PRC Government launched its Strike Hard Against Violent Terrorism campaign, using wide-scale, internationally linked threats of terrorism as a pretext to justify pervasive restrictions on, and serious human rights violations against, members of predominantly Muslim communities in Xinjiang. The August 2016 promotion of former Tibet Autonomous Region Party Secretary Chen Quanguo, whose record of brutality distinguished his tenure in Tibet, to be a Politburo member and Party Secretary of Xinjiang accelerated the crackdown across the region.

Scholars, human rights organizations, journalists, and think tanks have provided ample evidence substantiating the establishment by the PRC Government of internment camps. Since 2017, the PRC Government has detained more than 1,000,000 Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members of other predominantly Muslim groups in these camps. The PRC Government’s actions against Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members of other predominantly Muslim groups in Xinjiang violate international human rights laws and norms, including— the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, done at New York December 21, 1965, to which the PRC has acceded; the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, done at New York December 10, 1984, which the PRC has signed and ratified; the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, done at Paris December 9, 1948, which the PRC has signed and ratified; the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, done at New York December 19, 1966, which the PRC has signed; and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted December 10, 1948, and the International Labor Organization’s Forced Labor Convention (No. 29) and Convention Concerning the Abolition of Forced Labor (No. 105).

Senior Chinese Communist Party officials bear direct responsibility for gross human rights violations committed against Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members of other predominantly Muslim groups, including— the arbitrary detention of more than 1,000,000 Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members of other predominantly Muslim groups; the separation of working age adults from their children and elderly parents; and the integration of forced labor into supply chains. People held arbitrarily in detention facilities and internment camps in Xinjiang— 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 sterilizations and forced abortions, and denial of religious, cultural, and linguistic freedoms; and have confirmed that they were told by guards that the only way to secure their release was to demonstrate adequate political loyalty.

Poor conditions and lack of medical treatment at such detention facilities and internment camps appear to have contributed to the deaths of some detainees, including the elderly and infirm. 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 September 2018, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet noted the deeply disturbing allegations of large-scale arbitrary detentions of Uighurs and other predominantly Muslim communities, in so-called reeducation camps across Xinjiang .

In 2019, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China concluded, based on available evidence, that the establishment and actions committed in the internment camps in Xinjiang may constitute crimes against humanity . Uyghurs and ethnic Kazaks resettled or residing in third countries report being subjected to threats and harassment from PRC officials. There is a backlog of approximately 3,600,000 visa applicants waiting to enter the United States. Wait times for certain visas range between 5 and 18 years.