I 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7123 
To condemn gross human rights violations of ethnic Turkic Muslims in 
Xinjiang, and calling for an end to arbitrary detention, torture, and 
harassment of these communities inside and outside China. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 13, 2018 
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. SUOZZI, Mr. MCCAUL, Ms. KAP-
TUR, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. SHERMAN, Mrs. COMSTOCK, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. 
HULTGREN, and Mr. MCGOVERN) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the 
Committees on Intelligence (Permanent Select), and the Judiciary, for a 
period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned 
A BILL 
To condemn gross human rights violations of ethnic Turkic 
Muslims in Xinjiang, and calling for an end to arbitrary 
detention, torture, and harassment of these communities 
inside and outside China. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Uyghur Human Rights 
Policy Act of 2018’’. 
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SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE. 
The purpose of this Act is to direct United States 
resources to address gross violations of universally recog-
nized human rights, including the mass internment of over 
1,000,000 Uyghurs and other predominately Muslim eth-
nic minorities in China and the intimidation and threats 
faced by United States citizens and legal permanent resi-
dents. 
SEC. 3. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES. 
In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congressional 
committees’’ means— 
(1) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the 
Committee on Armed Services, the Select Committee 
on Intelligence, the Committee on Banking, Hous-
ing, and Urban Affairs, the Committee on the Judi-
ciary, and the Committee on Appropriations of the 
Senate; and 
(2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 
Committee on Armed Services, the Permanent Select 
Committee on Intelligence, the Committee on Finan-
cial Services, the Committee on the Judiciary, and 
the Committee on Appropriations of the House of 
Representatives. 
SEC. 4. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
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(1) The Government of the People’s Republic of 
China (PRC) has a long history of repressing ap-
proximately 13,000,000 Turkic, moderate Sunni 
Muslims, particularly Uyghurs, in the nominally au-
tonomous Xinjiang region. These actions are viola-
tions of international treaties and covenants to 
which the People’s Republic of China is a party, in-
cluding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 
and the International Covenant on Civil and Polit-
ical Rights. 
(2) In recent decades, central and regional Chi-
nese government policies have systematically dis-
criminated against Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, and 
other Muslims in Xinjiang by denying them a range 
of civil and political rights, including the freedoms of 
expression, religion, movement, and due process, 
among others. 
(3) Increased unrest in the Xinjiang region as 
a result of the central government’s severe repres-
sion is used in Orwellian fashion by the Government 
of the People’s Republic of China as evidence of 
‘‘terrorism’’ and ‘‘separatism’’ and as an excuse for 
further disproportionate response. 
(4) In 2014, Chinese authorities launched their 
latest ‘‘Strike Hard against Violent Extremism’’ 
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campaign, in which the pretext of wide-scale, inter-
nationally linked threats of terrorism were used to 
justify pervasive restrictions on, and gross human 
rights violations of, the ethnic minority communities 
of Xinjiang. 
(5) Those policies included— 
(A) pervasive, high-tech surveillance across 
the region, ranging from the arbitrary collection 
of biodata, including DNA samples from chil-
dren, without their knowledge or consent; 
(B) the use of QR codes outside homes to 
gather information on how frequently individ-
uals pray; 
(C) facial and voice recognition software 
and ‘‘predictive policing’’ databases; and 
(D) countless checkpoints across the region 
to control movement, all in a context with no 
enforceable privacy rights. 
(6)(A) The August 2016 transfer of former 
Tibet Autonomous Region Party Secretary Chen 
Quanguo to become the Xinjiang Party Secretary 
prompted an acceleration in the crackdown across 
the region. 
(B) Local officials in Xinjiang have used 
chilling political rhetoric to describe the purpose of 
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government policy including ‘‘eradicating tumors’’ 
and ‘‘spray[ing] chemicals’’ on crops to kill the 
‘‘weeds’’. 
(C) Uyghurs are forced to celebrate Chinese 
cultural traditions, such as Chinese New Year, and 
unique Uyghur culture is facing eradication due to 
state control over Uyghur cultural heritage, such as 
muqam and meshrep, and due to elimination of the 
Uyghur language as a medium of instruction in 
Xinjiang schools and universities. 
(7) In 2017, credible investigations found that 
family members of Uyghurs living outside of China 
had gone missing, that Chinese authorities were 
pressuring those outside the country to return, and 
that individuals were being arbitrarily detained in 
large numbers. 
(8) There is ample credible evidence provided 
by scholars, human rights organizations, journalists, 
and think tanks substantiating the establishment by 
Chinese authorities of ‘‘political reeducation’’ camps, 
for which there is no legal basis. 
(9) Chinese security forces have never been held 
accountable for credible reports of mass shootings in 
Alaqagha (2014), Hanerik (2013), and Siriqbuya 
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(2013), as well as the extrajudicial killings of 
Abdulbasit Ablimit (2013) and Rozi Osman (2014). 
(10) 
Independent 
organizations 
conducted 
interviews and received testimonies from Kayrat 
Samarkan and Omir Bekali, along with others who 
had been detained in such facilities, who described 
forced political indoctrination, torture, uncertainty 
as to the length of detention, humiliation, and denial 
of religious, cultural, and linguistic freedoms, and 
confirmed that they were told by guards that the 
only way to secure release was to demonstrate suffi-
cient political loyalty. Uyghurs Muhammed Salih 
Hajim 
(2018), 
Yaqupjan 
Naman 
(2018), 
Abdughappar Abdujappar (2018), Ayhan Memet 
(2018), 
Abdulreshit 
Seley 
Hajim 
(2018), 
Nurimangul Memet (2018), Adalet Teyip (2018), 
Abdulnehed Mehsum (2017), Hesen Imin (2017), 
Sawut Raxman (2017), Tursungul (2015), Memet 
Ibrahim (2015), and Perhat Mollahun (2013) died 
while in the custody of the Chinese authorities with-
out proper investigation of the circumstances. 
(11) Uyghurs and Kazakhs, who have now ob-
tained permanent residence or citizenship in other 
countries, attest to receiving threats and harassment 
from Chinese officials. 
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(12) Under pressure from the Government of 
the People’s Republic of China, countries have forc-
ibly returned Uyghurs to China in violation of the 
non-refoulement principle and their well-founded 
fear of persecution. States returning Uyghurs in-
clude Egypt (2017), the United Arab Emirates 
(2017), Malaysia (2011, 2013), Thailand (2011, 
2015); Laos (2010); Burma (2010); Cambodia 
(2009); Vietnam (2014); Kazakhstan (1999, 2001, 
2003, 2006); Uzbekistan (2007), Tajikistan (2011), 
Pakistan (2003, 2009, 2011), Nepal (2002), India 
(2016). 
(13) Six journalists for Radio Free Asia’s 
Uyghur service have publicly detailed abuses their 
family members in Xinjiang have endured in re-
sponse to their work exposing abusive policies across 
the region. 
(14) Several United States-based companies are 
conducting business with Xinjiang authorities with 
unclear due diligence as to how their business oper-
ations may create or contribute to human rights vio-
lations. 
(15) The Government of the People’s Republic 
of China is increasingly investing in the ‘‘Belt and 
Road Initiative’’ across Xinjiang and throughout 
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Central Asia, extending its influence through organi-
zations such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organiza-
tion without regard to the political, cultural, or lin-
guistic rights of ethnic minorities. 
(16) The Secretary of State, Congressional-Ex-
ecutive Commission on China, Tom Lantos Human 
Rights Commission, and individual members of the 
executive branch and Congress have all expressed 
growing concern regarding the pervasive human 
rights abuses across Xinjiang and the ‘‘political re-
education’’ camps. 
(17) In August 2018, the United Nations Com-
mittee to Eliminate Racial Discrimination challenged 
the Government of the People’s Republic of China 
over abuses in Xinjiang, including the establishment 
of mass arbitrary detention camps. 
(18) In September 2018, newly appointed 
United Nations High Commissioner for Human 
Rights Michele Bachelet noted in her first speech as 
High Commissioner the ‘‘deeply disturbing allega-
tions of large-scale arbitrary detentions of Uighurs 
and other Muslim communities, in so-called re-edu-
cation camps across Xinjiang’’. 
(19) Between August and September 2018, 
Chinese authorities responded to these allegations by 
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either flatly denying them or insisting that the facili-
ties are ‘‘vocational training centers’’. 
(20) On September 18, 2018, the Washington 
Post wrote, ‘‘At stake is not just the welfare of the 
Uighurs, but also whether the technologies of the 
21st century will be employed to smother human 
freedom.’’ 
(21) Experts have described the Xinjiang region 
as ‘‘a police state to rival North Korea, with a for-
malized racism on the order of South African apart-
heid’’ and the repression in the Xinjiang region as 
a ‘‘slow motion Tiananmen’’. 
SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) the President should condemn abuses 
against Turkic Muslims by Chinese authorities in 
Xinjiang and call on Chinese President Xi Jinping 
to recognize the profound abuse and likely lasting 
damage of China’s current policies, and immediately 
close the ‘‘political reeducation’’ camps, lift all re-
strictions on internationally guaranteed human 
rights across the region, and allow for reestablish-
ment of contact between those inside and outside 
China; 
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(2) the United States Government should de-
velop a strategy to support the United Nations High 
Commissioner for Human Rights and numerous 
United Nations Special Rapporteurs’ urgent calls for 
immediate and unfettered access to Xinjiang, includ-
ing the ‘‘political reeducation’’ camps; 
(3) the Secretary of State should consider the 
establishment of a new position within the Depart-
ment of State, the United States Special Coordi-
nator for Xinjiang, who will coordinate diplomatic, 
political, public diplomacy, financial assistance, sanc-
tions, counterterrorism, and security resources with-
in the United States Government to respond to the 
gross violations of universally recognized human 
rights occurring in the Xinjiang region, including by 
addressing the mass detentions of Uyghurs and 
other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities, the 
deployment of technologically advanced surveillance 
and police detection methods, and the counterter-
rorism and counter-radicalism claims used to justify 
the policies of the Government of the People’s Re-
public of China in Xinjiang Province; 
(4) if the objectives of the Special Coordinator 
position described in paragraph (3) are accom-
plished, the Secretary of State may terminate the 
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position, but must inform the appropriate congres-
sional committees 45 days before the termination; 
(5) the Secretary must consult with the chair-
man and ranking minority members of the appro-
priate congressional committees prior to the designa-
tion of the Special Coordinator; 
(6) the Secretary of State should consider the 
applicability of existing authorities, including the 
Global Magnitsky Act (subtitle F of Public Law 
114–328), to impose targeted sanctions on members 
of the Government of the People’s Republic of 
China, the Chinese Communist Party, and state se-
curity apparatus, including Xinjiang Party Secretary 
Chen Quanguo and other officials credibly alleged to 
be responsible for human rights abuses in Xinjiang 
and elsewhere; 
(7) the Secretary of State should fully imple-
ment the provisions of the Frank Wolf International 
Religious Freedom Act (Public Law 114–281) and 
consider strategically employing sanctions and other 
tools under the International Religious Freedom Act 
(22 U.S.C. 6401 et seq.) and to employ measures re-
quired as part of the ‘‘Country of Particular Con-
cern’’ (CPC) designation for the Government of the 
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People’s Republic of China that directly address par-
ticularly severe violations of religious freedom; 
(8) the Secretary of Commerce should review 
and consider the prohibition on the sale or provision 
of any United States-made goods or services to any 
state agent in Xinjiang, and add the Xinjiang 
branch of the Chinese Communist Party, the 
Xinjiang Public Security Bureau, and the Xinjiang 
Office of the United Front Work Department, 
among others, to the ‘‘entities’’ list administered by 
the Department of Commerce; 
(9) the Secretary of State should explore appro-
priate mechanisms to establish a voluntary database 
to which United States citizens or permanent family 
members of the Uyghur diaspora can provide details 
about missing family members, with a view towards 
pressing for accountability, and take appropriate 
measures to expedite the asylum claims of Uyghurs, 
Kazakhs, and other Turkic Muslim minorities; 
(10) United States companies and individuals 
selling goods or services or otherwise operating in 
Xinjiang should take steps, including in any public 
or financial filings, to publicly assert that their com-
mercial activities are not contributing to human 
rights violations in Xinjiang or elsewhere in China; 
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(11) the Federal Bureau of Investigation and 
appropriate United States law enforcement entities 
should track and take steps to hold accountable offi-
cials from China who harass, threaten, or intimidate 
United States citizens and legal permanent resi-
dents, including Turkic Muslims, Uyghur-Americans, 
Chinese-Americans, and Chinese nationals legally 
studying or working in the United States; 
(12) the Secretary of State should work with 
traditional United States allies and partners to take 
similar steps and coordinate closely on targeted 
sanctions and visa restrictions; and 
(13) the work of Radio Free Asia’s Uyghur lan-
guage service should be commended for providing a 
detailed and accurate account of current events fac-
ing Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in China 
despite efforts by the Government of the People’s 
Republic of China to intimidate their reporting 
through threats and detention of family members 
living in China. 
SEC. 6. NATIONAL SECURITY REPORT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of National 
Intelligence, in coordination with the Secretary of State, 
shall provide to the appropriate congressional committees 
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a classified and unclassified report to assess regional secu-
rity threats posed by the crackdown across Xinjiang and 
the frequency with which Central and Southeast Asian 
governments are forcibly returning Turkic Muslim refu-
gees and asylum seekers. 
(b) ANNEX.—The report required under subsection 
(a) shall include an annex with a list of all Chinese compa-
nies involved in the construction or operation of the ‘‘polit-
ical education’’ camps, or the provision or operation of 
surveillance technology or operations, across Xinjiang. 
SEC. 7. REPORT ON STOPPING INTIMIDATION OF CITIZENS 
AND RESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the Director of the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation, in consultation with the Secretary of State, 
shall provide a report to the appropriate congressional 
committees that outline efforts to provide information to 
and protect United States citizens and residents, including 
ethnic Uyghurs and Chinese nationals legally studying or 
working temporarily in the United States who have experi-
enced harassment as described under section 5(9). 
SEC. 8. REPORT ON PUBLIC DIPLOMACY. 
Not later than 120 days after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the CEO of the United States Agency 
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for Global Media shall submit to the appropriate congres-
sional committees a report that— 
(1) describes the current status and reach of 
United States broadcasting to the Xinjiang region 
and Uyghur speaking communities globally, barriers 
to the free flow of news and information to these 
communities, and, if appropriate, detailed technical 
and fiscal requirements necessary to increase broad-
casting and other media to these communities glob-
ally; 
(2) describes efforts to intimidate Radio Free 
Asia and Voice of America reporters reporting on 
human rights issues in the People’s Republic of 
China; and 
(3) in consultation with the Global Engagement 
Center at the Department of State, describes and 
assesses disinformation and propaganda by the Gov-
ernment of the People’s Republic of China or other 
members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization 
targeting Uyghur communities globally and efforts 
to downplay gross violations of universally recog-
nized human rights occurring in the Xinjiang region. 
SEC. 9. ANNUAL REPORT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, 
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the Secretary of State, after consulting relevant civil soci-
ety organizations, shall submit to the appropriate congres-
sional committees and make available on the website of 
Department of State an interagency report that in-
cludes— 
(1) an assessment of the number of individuals 
detained in political ‘‘reeducation camps’’ and condi-
tions in the camps for detainees in the Xinjiang re-
gion, including whether detainees endure torture, 
forced renunciation of faith, or other mistreatment; 
(2) a description, as possible, of the methods 
used by People’s Republic of China authorities to 
‘‘reeducate’’ Uyghur detainees as well as the Peo-
ple’s Republic of China agencies in charge of reedu-
cation; 
(3) an assessment of the number of individuals 
being arbitrarily detained, including in pretrial de-
tention centers and prisons; 
(4) an assessment of the level of access People’s 
Republic of China authorities grant to diplomats, 
journalists, and others to the Xinjiang region and a 
description of measures used to impede efforts to 
monitor human rights conditions in the Xinjiang re-
gion; 
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(5) an assessment of the repressive surveillance, 
detection, and control methods used by People’s Re-
public of China authorities in the Xinjiang region, 
and a list of individuals who hold senior leadership 
positions and are responsible for ‘‘high-tech’’ polic-
ing, mass incarceration, and reeducation efforts tar-
geting Uyghur and other predominately Muslim eth-
nic minorities in the Xinjiang region; and 
(6) a description of United States diplomatic ef-
forts to address the gross violations of universally 
recognized rights in the Xinjiang region, including in 
multilateral institutions and through bilateral rela-
tions with the People’s Republic of China, the na-
tions of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation 
(OIC), and other countries. 
(b) TERMINATION.—The Secretary of State may ter-
minate the report required under subsection (a) if the Sec-
retary determines that the gross violations of universally 
recognized human rights and mass detention of Uyghurs 
and other predominately Muslim ethnic minorities has 
ended in the Xinjiang region. 
Æ 
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