IV 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 317 
Condemning the ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity being com-
mitted against Uyghurs and members of other religious and ethnic minor-
ity groups by the People’s Republic of China. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 14, 2021 
Mr. MCCAUL (for himself and Mr. MEEKS) submitted the following resolution; 
which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
RESOLUTION 
Condemning the ongoing genocide and crimes against hu-
manity being committed against Uyghurs and members 
of other religious and ethnic minority groups by the 
People’s Republic of China. 
Whereas, on December 9, 1948, the United Nations General 
Assembly unanimously adopted the Convention on the 
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide 
(the Genocide Convention) signifying a commitment in 
response to the Holocaust and other crimes against hu-
manity committed in the first half of the twentieth cen-
tury; 
Whereas the Genocide Convention entered into force on Janu-
ary 12, 1951, and declares that all state parties ‘‘confirm 
that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
04:19 Apr 15, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR317.IH
HR317
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
•HRES 317 IH 
time of war, is a crime under international law which 
they undertake to prevent and to punish’’; 
Whereas the Genocide Convention defines genocide as ‘‘any 
of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in 
whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious 
group, as such: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) 
Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the 
group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions 
of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction 
in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to 
prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring 
children of the group to another group’’; 
Whereas the United States ratified the Genocide Convention 
with the understanding that the commission of genocide 
requires ‘‘the specific intent to destroy, in whole or in 
substantial part, a [protected] group as such’’; 
Whereas the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is a state 
party to the Genocide Convention; 
Whereas, since 2017, the PRC Government, under the direc-
tion and control of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), 
has detained and sought to indoctrinate more than one 
million Uyghurs and members of other ethnic and reli-
gious minority groups; 
Whereas recent data indicate a significant drop in birth rates 
among Uyghurs due to enforced sterilization, enforced 
abortion, and more onerous birth quotas for Uyghurs 
compared to Han; 
Whereas there are credible reports of PRC Government cam-
paigns to promote marriages between Uyghurs and Han 
and to reduce birth rates among Uyghurs and other 
Turkic Muslims; 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
04:19 Apr 15, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR317.IH
HR317
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
•HRES 317 IH 
Whereas many Uyghurs reportedly have been assigned to fac-
tory employment under conditions that indicate forced 
labor, and some former detainees have reported food dep-
rivation, beatings, suppression of religious practices, fam-
ily separation, and sexual abuse; 
Whereas this is indicative of a systematic effort to eradicate 
the ethnic and cultural identity and religious beliefs, and 
prevent the births of, Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs and 
Kyrgyz, and members of religious minority groups; 
Whereas the birth rate in the Xinjiang region fell by 24 per-
cent in 2019 compared to a 4.2 percent decline nation-
wide; 
Whereas, on January 19, 2021, the Department of State de-
termined the PRC Government, under the direction and 
control of the CCP, has committed crimes against hu-
manity and genocide against Uyghurs and other ethnic 
and religious minority groups in Xinjiang; 
Whereas, on the same day, then-Secretary of State designate 
Antony Blinken stated during a hearing on his nomina-
tion before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that 
those atrocity determinations would be his judgment as 
well; 
Whereas, on February 24, 2021, the spokesperson for the 
Department of State stated, ‘‘Secretary Blinken has de-
termined that what has taken place in Xinjiang was 
genocide’’ and that ‘‘it constitutes crimes against human-
ity’’; 
Whereas Article VIII of the Genocide Convention provides, 
‘‘Any Contracting Party may call upon the competent or-
gans of the United Nations to take such action under the 
Charter of the United Nations as they consider appro-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
04:19 Apr 15, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR317.IH
HR317
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
•HRES 317 IH 
priate for the prevention and suppression of acts of geno-
cide’’; 
Whereas the International Court of Justice has stated that 
it is the obligation of all state parties to the Genocide 
Convention to ‘‘employ all means reasonably available to 
them, so as to prevent genocide so far as possible’’; and 
Whereas the United States is a Permanent Member of the 
United Nations Security Council: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) finds that the ongoing abuses against 
Uyghurs and members of other ethnic and religious 
minority groups constitute genocide as defined in the 
Genocide Convention and crimes against humanity 
as understood under customary international law; 
(2) attributes these atrocity crimes against 
Uyghurs and members of other ethnic and religious 
minority groups to the People’s Republic of China, 
under the direction and control of the Chinese Com-
munist Party; 
(3) condemns this genocide and these crimes 
against humanity in the strongest terms; and 
(4) calls upon the President to direct the 
United States Permanent Representative to the 
United Nations to use the voice, vote, and influence 
of the United States to— 
(A) refer the People’s Republic of China’s 
genocide and crimes against humanity against 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
04:19 Apr 15, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\HR317.IH
HR317
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS