The Senate passed the bipartisan Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019 (S.178) on September 11, 2019, by unanimous consent. The House passed the Uyghur Intervention and Global Humanitarian Urgent Response Act of 2019 (UIGHUR Act) (S.178) on December 3. These two bills contained slightly different provisions in some Sections.
This bill mandates targeted sanctions on the perpetrators of gross human violations against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in China. It also condemns the violations, require annual reports to Congress, and prioritize action on the Uyghur crisis within the State Department.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee marked up an amended bill that then passed the Senate. The House took up the same language and passed it. With overwhelming support in both chambers, the bills passed easily.
Your voice made a difference.
On June 17th, President Donald Trump signed into law the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020. The bill authorizes the imposition of U.S. sanctions against Chinese officials responsible for the detention and persecution of Uyghurs, a Turkic, Muslim ethnic group predominantly residing in the Xinjiang autonomous region in western China.