The United States accuses China of religious repression and genocide against Uighurs

*Paromita Das

The US has condemned China for its religious repression and genocide against Uighurs. In the US State Department’s annual report on religious freedom around the world, ambassador Rashad Hussain stated that “far too many governments remain undeterred in their repression of their citizens.”

“It’s no surprise that the People’s Republic of China stands out here,” he told reporters. “The Chinese government continues to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uighurs, who are mostly Muslim, and members of other ethnic and religious minorities.”

“China continues its genocide and repression of predominantly Muslim Uighurs and other religious minority groups,” according to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“Since April 2017, over one million Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and others have been detained in Xinjiang internment camps,” he added.

China initially denied the existence of any detention camps in Xinjiang. In 2018, Beijing announced the establishment of “vocational training centres” to combat terrorism, separatism, and religious radicalism in the region.
According to the 2021 Report on International Religious Freedom, “NGOs and the media continued to report deaths in custody and that the government tortured, physically abused, arrested, disappeared, detained, sentenced to prison, subjected to forced labour and forced indoctrination in CCP ideology, and harassed adherents of both registered and unregistered religious groups for activities related to their religious beliefs and practises.”

When a law requiring it becomes enforceable later this month, US authorities will be ready to implement a ban on imports from China’s Xinjiang region.

“We’re all on a very tight timeline,” said Elva Muneton, acting executive director of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for the UFLPA Implementation Task Force.
“We expect to be ready to implement the Uyghur act on June 21, and we have the resources,” Muneton said during a webinar on enforcing the law. “So the question is, are we ready to put this into action? We are, indeed “she stated.

Importers will be able to re-export prohibited cargo back to the country of origin, and any exceptions to the presumption must be granted by the CBP commissioner and reported to Congress, according to Muneton.

“It’s critical to understand that the level of evidence required by the Uyghur act will be very high,” she said.

“It will necessitate documentation, clear and convincing evidence, that the supply chain of the imported product is free of forced labour.”