III 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 131 

Condemning the Government of the People’s Republic of China’s treatment 

of the Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur 

Autonomous Region (XUAR) and calling for an investigation into the 

abuses and crimes committed in the XUAR. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 23, 2021 

Mr. COONS (for himself, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. HAGERTY, Mr. KAINE, 

and Mr. ROMNEY) submitted the following resolution; which was referred 

to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Condemning the Government of the People’s Republic of 

China’s treatment of the Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region 

(XUAR) and calling for an investigation into the abuses 

and crimes committed in the XUAR. 

Whereas the Uyghurs are one of several predominantly Muslim Turkic groups living in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in the northwest of the People’s 

Republic of China (PRC); 

Whereas, following Uyghur demonstrations and unrest in 

2009 and clashes with government security personnel and 

other violent incidents in subsequent years, PRC leaders 

sought to ‘‘stabilize’’ the XUAR through large-scale arVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:46 Mar 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR131.IS SR131

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•SRES 131 IS 

rests and extreme security measures aimed at combatting 

alleged terrorism, religious extremism, and ethnic separatism; 

Whereas, in May 2014, the PRC launched its ‘‘Strike Hard 

Against Violent Extremism’’ campaign, which placed further restrictions on and facilitated additional human 

rights violations against minorities in the XUAR under 

the pretext of fighting terrorism; 

Whereas, in August 2016, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) 

Politburo member Chen Quanguo, former Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) Party Secretary, known for overseeing intensifying security operations and human rights 

abuses in the TAR, was appointed as Party Secretary of 

the XUAR; 

Whereas, beginning in 2017, XUAR authorities have sought 

to forcibly ‘‘assimilate’’ Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities into Chinese society through a policy of cultural 

erasure known as ‘‘Sinicization’’; 

Whereas, since 2018, credible reporting including from the 

BBC, France24, and the New York Times has shown 

that the Government of the PRC has built mass internment camps in the XUAR, which it calls ‘‘vocational 

training’’ centers, and detained Uyghurs and other 

groups in them and other facilities; 

Whereas, since 2015, XUAR authorities have arbitrarily detained an estimated 1,500,000 Uyghurs—12.5 percent of 

the XUAR’s official Uyghur population of 12,000,000— 

and a smaller number of other ethnic minorities in the 

‘‘vocational training’’ centers and other detention and 

pre-detention facilities; 


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•SRES 131 IS 

Whereas, in 2017, the XUAR accounted for less than two 

percent of the PRC’s total population but 21 percent of 

all arrests in China; 

Whereas The Atlantic, Radio Free Asia, and other sources 

have revealed that detainees are forced to renounce many 

of their Islamic beliefs and customs and repudiate 

Uyghur culture, language, and identity; 

Whereas investigations by Human Rights Watch and other 

human rights organizations have documented how detainees are subject to political indoctrination, forced labor, 

crowded and unsanitary conditions, involuntary biometric 

data collection, both medical neglect and intrusive medical interventions, food and water deprivation, beatings, 

sexual violence, and torture; 

Whereas research by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute 

suggests that, since late 2019, many detainees have been 

placed in higher security facilities and convicted of formal 

crimes; 

Whereas Human Rights Watch has reported that the PRC 

uses data collection programs, including facial recognition 

technology, to surveil Uyghurs in the XUAR and to identify individuals whom authorities may detain; 

Whereas PRC authorities have placed countless children 

whose parents are detained or in exile in state-run institutions and boarding schools without the consent of their 

parents; 

Whereas New York Times reporting revealed that numerous 

local PRC officials who did not agree with the policies 

carried out in XUAR have been fired and imprisoned; 

Whereas Associated Press reporting documented widespread 

and systemic efforts by PRC authorities to force Uyghur 


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•SRES 131 IS 

women to take contraceptives or to subject them to sterilization or abortion, threatening to detain those who do 

not comply; 

Whereas PRC authorities prohibit family members and advocates inside and outside China from having regular communications with relatives and friends imprisoned in the 

XUAR, such as journalist and entrepreneur Ekpar Asat; 

Whereas PRC authorities have imposed pervasive restrictions 

on the peaceful practice of Islam in the XUAR, to the 

extent that Human Rights Watch asserts the PRC ‘‘has 

effectively outlawed the practice of Islam’’; 

Whereas individuals who are not detained in camps have been 

forced to attend political indoctrination sessions, subjected to movement restrictions, mass surveillance systems, involuntary biometric data collection, and other 

human rights abuses; 

Whereas international media, nongovernmental organizations, 

scholars, families, and survivors have reported on the systemic nature of many of these abuses; 

Whereas, on June 26, 2020, a group of 50 independent 

United Nations experts jointly expressed alarm over China’s deteriorating human rights record, including its repression in Xinjiang, and called on the international community ‘‘to act collectively and decisively to ensure China 

respects human rights and abides by its international obligations’’; 

Whereas, on October 6, 2020, 39 United Nations member 

countries issued a public statement condemning human 

rights violations by PRC authorities and calling on the 

PRC to allow the United Nations High Commissioner for 

Human Rights unfettered access to Xinjiang; 


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•SRES 131 IS 

Whereas the United States Congress passed the Uyghur 

Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 (Public Law 116– 

145); 

Whereas the United States Congress passed the Global 

Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (subtitle F 

of title XII of Public Law 114–328; 22 U.S.C. 2656 

note), which has been used to sanction PRC officials and 

entities for their activities in the XUAR; 

Whereas the United States Government has implemented additional targeted restrictions on trade with Xinjiang and 

imposed visa and economic sanctions on PRC officials 

and entities for their activities in the XUAR; 

Whereas the United States Government has documented 

human rights abuses and violations of individual freedoms in the XUAR, including in the 2019 Department 

of State Report on International Religious Freedom; 

Whereas, on August 25, 2020, the Biden for President campaign stated, ‘‘The unspeakable oppression that Uighurs 

and other ethnic minorities have suffered at the hands of 

China’s authoritarian government is genocide and Joe 

Biden stands against it in the strongest terms.’’; 

Whereas, on January 19, 2021, former Secretary of State 

Michael Pompeo ‘‘determined that the PRC, under the 

direction and control of the CCP, has committed genocide 

against the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other 

ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang’’; 

Whereas, on January 19, 2021, during his confirmation hearing, Secretary of State Antony Blinken testified that 

‘‘forcing men, women, and children into concentration 

camps, trying to in effect reeducate them to be adherents 


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to the Chinese Communist Party – all of that speaks to 

an effort to commit genocide’’; 

Whereas, on January 19, 2021, Secretary of the Treasury 

Janet L. Yellen, during her confirmation hearing, publicly stated that China is guilty of ‘‘horrendous human 

rights abuses’’; 

Whereas, on January 27, 2021, in response to a question 

from the press regarding the Uyghurs, Secretary Blinken 

stated that his ‘‘judgement remains that genocide was 

committed against the Uyghurs’’; and 

Whereas, on March 10, 2021, in response to a question on 

Xinjiang during his testimony before the Committee on 

Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives, Secretary Blinken reiterated, ‘‘We’ve been clear, and I’ve 

been clear, that I see it as genocide, other egregious 

abuses of human rights, and we’ll continue to make that 

clear.’’: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) condemns the atrocities committed by the 

3 CCP against Uyghurs and other predominantly Mus4 lim Turkic groups in Xinjiang, including forced 

5 labor, sexual violence, the internment of over 

6 1,000,000 individuals, and other horrific abuses; 

7 (2) urges the President, the Secretary of State, 

8 and the United States Ambassador to the United 

9 Nations to speak publicly about the ongoing human 

10 rights abuses in the XUAR, including in formal 


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1 speeches at the United Nations and other inter2 national fora; 

3 (3) urges the President, the Secretary of State, 

4 and the United States Ambassador to the United 

5 Nations to appeal to the United Nations Secretary6 General to take a more proactive and public stance 

7 on the situation in the XUAR, including by sup8 porting calls for an investigation and accountability 

9 for individuals and entities involved in abuses 

10 against the people of the XUAR; 

11 (4) supports continued targeted sanctions and 

12 the use of all diplomatic tools available to hold those 

13 responsible for the atrocities in Xinjiang to account; 

14 (5) urges United States agencies engaged with 

15 China on trade, climate, defense, or other bilateral 

16 issues to include human rights abuses in the XUAR 

17 as a consideration in developing United States pol18 icy; 

19 (6) supports Radio Free Asia Uyghur, the only 

20 Uyghur-language news service in the world inde21 pendent of Chinese government influence; and 

22 (7) recognizes the repeated requests from the 

23 United Nations High Commissioner for Human 

24 Rights for unfettered access to the XUAR and the 

25 PRC’s refusal to comply, and therefore— 


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1 (A) calls on PRC authorities to allow un2 fettered access by the United Nations Office of 

3 the High Commissioner for Human Rights to 

4 the XUAR; 

5 (B) urges collaborative action between the 

6 United States Government and international 

7 partners to pressure PRC authorities to allow 

8 unfettered access to the XUAR; 

9 (C) urges the President, the Secretary of 

10 State, and the United States Ambassador to 

11 the United Nations to simultaneously outline a 

12 strategy to investigate the human rights abuses 

13 and crimes that have taken place in the XUAR, 

14 collect evidence, and transfer the evidence to a 

15 competent court; and 

16 (D) urges United States partners and al17 lies to undertake similar strategies in an effort 

18 to build an international investigation outside of 

19 the PRC if PRC authorities do not comply with 

20 a United Nations investigation in the XUAR. 

Æ 


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