Statement on State Department’s Genocide Determination
The Uyghur American Association (UAA) expresses deep gratitude to the U.S. Department of State and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for officially determining that the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) campaign of mass internment, forced labor, and forced sterilization against millions of Uyghurs and others in East Turkistan (Xinjiang) indeed constitutes “genocide” and “crimes against humanity.” Today, the U.S. became the first country to make a formal genocide determination in the context of the CCP's egregious human rights violations in East Turkistan.
The U.S. government has proven a stalwart partner in opposing the CCP’s detestable crimes against Uyghurs. Just last week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a Withhold Release Order (WRO) banning all cotton and tomato products produced in East Turkistan from entering the U.S., on the grounds of combating Uyghur forced labor. This year, the U.S. government sanctioned the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC)—the paramilitary organization that continues to colonize and exploit Uyghurs in their homeland—and architects of the Uyghur genocide, including Communist Party Secretary of Xinjiang Chen Quanguo. In June, U.S. Congress passed the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act into law, marking the first country in the world to pass a law that specifically targets the CCP’s maltreatment of Uyghurs.
The significance of today’s designation cannot be overstated. The UAA calls on the CCP to immediately close the concentration camps and release all arbitrarily-detained persons. In addition, the UAA demands the CCP stop its genocidal campaign against the Uyghurs, halting all coercive birth planning measures, including forced sterilizations, forced abortion, forced birth control, and the forced family separations.
The UAA will continue to work with the incoming Biden administration and U.S. Congress to pass the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act and take additional steps to ensure that Uyghurs’ freedom and justice is realized.
