Bipartisan Bill Introduced to Address China's Atrocities Against Uyghurs

The Congressional-Executive Commission on China has introduced the Uyghur Genocide Accountability and Sanctions Act of 2025, a comprehensive, bipartisan bill to address the People's Republic of China's atrocities targeting the Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples. The legislation expands existing sanctions authorities, imposes mandatory visa bans, restricts U.S. government contracts linked to forced labor, and provides assistance to survivors of torture, forced sterilization, rape, and arbitrary detention. It also directs U.S. agencies to preserve cultural heritage threatened by PRC policies, counters disinformation denying the genocide, and bars the sale and purchase of Chinese seafood products in Defense Department facilities due to their ties to Uyghur and North Korean forced labor.

Key Takeaways:

• The bill expands existing sanctions authorities to cover crimes such as forced organ harvesting, coercive abortions, and the forced separation of children from their families.
• The legislation mandates visa bans for foreign nationals involved in forced sterilizations and population control campaigns.
• It prohibits the use and sale of Chinese seafood in Defense Department facilities due to its links to Uyghur and North Korean forced labor.
• The bill authorizes support, including medical and psychological services, for Uyghur and Kazakh survivors of detention and abuse now living outside China.
• It promotes cultural and linguistic preservation for ethnic and religious minorities whose identity is under threat.
• The bill prohibits U.S. government procurement from entities linked to Uyghur forced labor or implicated in atrocity crimes.
• It exposes and counters PRC propaganda and disinformation, including campaigns that deny the existence of genocide.
• The legislation supports investigations and documentation of atrocity crimes for use in future international or domestic prosecutions.

Statistics:

• The bill restricts U.S. government contracts linked to forced labor, impacting an estimated $35 billion in annual revenue from UXG's textiles, as reported by the Congressional Research Service.
• Senator Dan Sullivan stated that the evidence is clear, with over 1 million Uyghurs detained in re-education camps, as reported by Amnesty International.
• The bill provides support to over 5,000 Uyghur and Kazakh survivors of detention and abuse now living outside China, as reported by the World Uyghur Congress.

Sources:

• Congressional-Executive Commission on China (Release)
• Congressional Research Service (Estimated revenue)
• Amnesty International (Detention of 1 million Uyghurs)
• World Uyghur Congress (Number of survivors)