I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2635
To support the human rights of Uyghurs and members of other minority
groups residing primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
and safeguard their distinct identity, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL3, 2025
Mrs. K
IM(for herself, Mr. BERA, and Mr. MEEKS) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
A BILL
To support the human rights of Uyghurs and members of
other minority groups residing primarily in the Xinjiang
Uyghur Autonomous Region and safeguard their distinct
identity, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Uyghur Policy Act of 4
2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
Congress finds the following: 7
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(1) The People’s Republic of China (PRC) con-1
tinues to repress the distinct Islamic, Turkic identity 2
of Uyghurs and members of other ethnic and reli-3
gious minority groups in the Xinjiang Uyghur Au-4
tonomous Region (XUAR) in northwestern China 5
and other areas of their habitual residence. 6
(2) Uyghurs, and other predominantly Muslim 7
ethnic minorities historically making up the majority 8
of the XUAR population, have maintained through-9
out their history a distinct religious and cultural 10
identity. 11
(3) Human rights, including freedom of religion 12
or belief, and respect for the Uyghurs’ unique Mus-13
lim identity are legitimate interests of the inter-14
national community. 15
(4) The PRC has ratified the International 16
Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, 17
and is thereby bound by its provisions. The PRC has 18
also signed the International Covenant on Civil and 19
Political Rights. 20
(5) An official campaign to encourage Han Chi-21
nese migration into the XUAR has placed immense 22
pressure on those who seek to preserve the ethnic, 23
cultural, religious, and linguistic traditions of the 24
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Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minority 1
groups. 2
(6) PRC authorities have supported an influx of 3
Han Chinese economic immigrants into the XUAR, 4
implemented discrimination against Uyghurs and 5
other minorities in hiring practices, and provided un-6
equal access to healthcare services. 7
(7) PRC authorities have manipulated the stra-8
tegic objectives of the international war on terror to 9
mask their increasing cultural and religious oppres-10
sion of the Muslim population residing in the 11
XUAR. 12
(8) Following unrest in the region, in 2014, 13
Chinese authorities launched their ‘‘Strike Hard 14
against Violent Extremism’’ campaign, in which du-15
bious allegations of widespread extremist activity 16
were used as justification for gross human rights 17
violations committed against Uyghurs and members 18
of other minority communities in the XUAR. 19
(9) PRC authorities have made use of the legal 20
system as a tool of repression, including for the im-21
position of arbitrary detentions and for torture 22
against members of the Uyghur community and 23
other minority populations. 24
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(10) Uyghurs and Kazakhs who have secured 1
citizenship or permanent residency outside of the 2
PRC have attested to repeated threats, harassment, 3
and surveillance by PRC officials. 4
(11) Reporting from international news organi-5
zations has found that over the past decade, family 6
members of Uyghurs and other minority groups liv-7
ing outside of the PRC have gone missing or been 8
detained to force Uyghur expatriates to return to 9
the PRC or silence their dissent. 10
(12) In 2017, Radio Free Asia’s Uyghur Serv-11
ice was the first media organization to report on the 12
PRC’s vast, mass arbitrary-detention program in the 13
XUAR in 2017. 14
(13) Credible evidence from human rights orga-15
nizations, think tanks, and journalists confirms that 16
more than 1,000,000 Uyghurs and members of other 17
ethnic minority groups have been imprisoned in 18
extrajudicial ‘‘political reeducation’’ centers. 19
(14) Independent accounts from former detain-20
ees of ‘‘political reeducation’’ centers describe inhu-21
mane conditions and treatment including forced po-22
litical indoctrination, torture, beatings, rape, forced 23
sterilization, and food deprivation. 24
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(15) Former detainees also confirmed that they 1
were told by guards that the only way to secure re-2
lease was to demonstrate sufficient political loyalty 3
to the PRC Government. 4
(16) Popular discourse surrounding the ongoing 5
atrocities in the XUAR and advocacy efforts to as-6
sist Uyghurs remains muted in most Muslim major-7
ity nations around the world. 8
(17) Former Secretary of States Antony 9
Blinken and Michael Pompeo and Secretary of State 10
Marco Rubio confirmed that the PRC Government 11
has committed genocide and crimes against human-12
ity against Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious 13
minorities in the XUAR. 14
(18) Government bodies of multiple nations 15
have also declared that PRC Government’s atrocities 16
against such populations in the XUAR constitute 17
genocide, including the parliaments of the United 18
Kingdom, Belgium, Czechia, Lithuania, the Nether-19
lands, and Canada. 20
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 21
It is the Sense of Congress that— 22
(1) the Government of the People’s Republic of 23
China should immediately open the Xinjiang Uyghur 24
Autonomous Region (XUAR) to regular, trans-25
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parent, and unmanipulated visits by members of the 1
press, international organizations including the Of-2
fice of the United Nations High Commissioner for 3
Human Rights, academic and human rights research 4
institutions, as well as foreign delegations including 5
from the United States Congress; 6
(2) the Government of the People’s Republic of 7
China should recognize, and take tangible steps to 8
protect and preserve, the distinct ethnic, cultural, re-9
ligious, and linguistic identity of Uyghurs and mem-10
bers of other ethnic and religious minority groups in 11
the XUAR; 12
(3) the Government of the People’s Republic of 13
China should cease all government-sponsored crack-14
downs, imprisonments, and detentions of people 15
throughout the XUAR aimed at repressing their eth-16
nic, cultural, political, or religious identities; 17
(4) the Government of the People’s Republic of 18
China should cease all government-sponsored 19
transnational repression of Uyghurs, including the 20
detainment, harassment, intimidation, and surveil-21
lance of the family members of exiled Uyghurs and 22
Uyghur activists; 23
(5) it is commendable for countries to provide 24
shelter and hospitality to Uyghurs and other minor-25
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ity group members in exile, as Turkey, Albania, and 1
Germany have done; 2
(6) urges all countries, especially fellow democ-3
racies and those with sizeable Muslim populations, 4
to condemn and address the plight of Uyghurs and 5
other minority communities in the XUAR; 6
(7) the Government of the People’s Republic of 7
China should immediately and unconditionally re-8
lease all prisoners that have been detained for their 9
ethnic, cultural, religious, and linguistic identities, 10
for expressing their political or religious beliefs in 11
the XUAR, or for being related to members of the 12
Uyghur diaspora or activist community including— 13
(A) Ekper Asat, who participated in the 14
Department of State’s International Visitors 15
Leadership Program in 2016, was incarcerated 16
after returning to the XUAR, and is now serv-17
ing a 15 year prison sentence on charges of ‘‘in-18
citing ethnic hatred and ethnic discrimination’’; 19
(B) Dr. Gulshan Abbas, a retired medical 20
doctor and Uyghur, who was wrongfully de-21
tained in the XUAR on September 11, 2018, 22
and unjustly sentenced to 20 years in prison in 23
retaliation for her sister’s advocacy for Uyghur 24
human rights issues; and 25
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(C) Kamile Wayit, a university student 1
and Uyghur, who was wrongfully detained on 2
December 12, 2022, after returning to the 3
XUAR while on break from studying during the 4
winter holiday; 5
(8) the Government of the People’s Republic of 6
China should facilitate access for international hu-7
manitarian organizations, including the Inter-8
national Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent 9
Societies, to the ‘‘political reeducation’’ centers in 10
the XUAR to ensure prisoners are not being mis-11
treated and are receiving necessary medical care; 12
and 13
(9) the Department of State should continue to 14
facilitate the unhindered dissemination of informa-15
tion to the international community on issues re-16
garding the human rights, religious freedom, and 17
transnational repression of Uyghurs and members of 18
other minority groups in the XUAR. 19
SEC. 4. UNITED STATES STRENGTHENING OF COORDINA-20
TION ON UYGHUR ISSUES. 21
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary of State, as appro-22
priate, shall— 23
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(1) prioritize policies, programs, and projects to 1
support the Uyghurs and members of other ethnic 2
and religious minority groups in the XUAR; 3
(2) vigorously promote the policy of seeking to 4
protect the distinct ethnic, religious, cultural, and 5
linguistic identity of the Uyghurs and other minority 6
groups and seek improved protection of human 7
rights in the XUAR; 8
(3) direct the State Department to maintain 9
close contact with Uyghur religious, cultural, and 10
political leaders, including seeking regular travel to 11
the XUAR and to Uyghur populations in Central 12
Asia, Turkey, Albania, Germany, and other parts of 13
Europe; 14
(4) lead coordination efforts for the release of 15
political prisoners in the XUAR who are being de-16
tained for exercising their human rights or being rel-17
atives of exiled Uyghurs; 18
(5) consult with the United States Congress on 19
policies relevant to the XUAR and the Uyghurs; 20
(6) coordinate with relevant Federal agencies to 21
administer aid to Uyghur rights advocates; 22
(7) make efforts to establish contacts with for-23
eign ministries of other countries, especially in Eu-24
rope, Central Asia, and members of the Organisation 25
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of Islamic Cooperation, to pursue a policy of pro-1
moting greater respect for human rights and reli-2
gious freedom for Uyghurs and other ethnic and re-3
ligious minority groups from the XUAR; 4
(8) utilize the Organisation of Islamic Coopera-5
tion and United States Strategic Dialogue to ad-6
dress Uyghur rights, working with the Organisation 7
of Islamic Cooperation individual member states to 8
develop and implement joint initiatives and pro-9
grams aimed at promoting awareness of Uyghur 10
rights, and support Uyghur victims of detainment, 11
harassment, and transnational repression; 12
(9) support independent media authorized 13
under PL 111/202 22 U.S.C. 6208 of the 111th 14
Congress that conduct reporting and investigative 15
journalism focused on the XUAR, including in local 16
languages, to ensure that further PRC human rights 17
abuses are reported on; 18
(10) work with international partners to raise 19
awareness concerning acts of transnational repres-20
sion against Uyghur Americans or Uyghurs exiled in 21
the United States; 22
(11) develop and implement strategies to pre-23
vent and respond to the transnational repression of 24
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Uyghur Americans and Uyghurs exiled in the United 1
States; 2
(12) establish a reporting mechanism for indi-3
viduals to report incidents of transnational repres-4
sion; and 5
(13) submit an annual report, including a clas-6
sified annex if necessary, to Congress on actions 7
taken by the United States to address and prevent 8
transnational repression against Uyghurs in the 9
United States, and recommendations for further leg-10
islative or policy measures. 11
(b) S
UPPORT.—The Secretary of State shall ensure 12
the Department of State has adequate resources, staff, 13
and administrative support to carry out this section. 14
(c) T
ERMINATION.—This section shall terminate on 15
the date that is 5 years after the date of the enactment 16
of this Act. 17
SEC. 5. FUNDING FOR HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCATES TO CON-18
DUCT PUBLIC DIPLOMACY IN THE ISLAMIC 19
WORLD ON THE UYGHUR SITUATION. 20
Of the amounts authorized to be appropriated for the 21
United States Speaker Program of the Bureau of Edu-22
cational and Cultural Affairs of the Department of State, 23
$250,000 for each of fiscal years 2025, 2026, and 2027 24
is authorized to be made available to support human 25
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rights advocates working on behalf of the Uyghurs and 1
members of other ethnic and religious minority groups 2
from the XUAR that are persecuted in the PRC, whose 3
names may be provided by the Department of State in 4
consultation with representatives of the global Uyghur 5
community, to speak at global public diplomacy forums, 6
particularly those in which Organisation of Islamic Co-7
operation countries and other Muslim-majority countries 8
are present, on issues regarding the human rights and reli-9
gious freedom of Uyghurs and members of other ethnic 10
and religious minority groups persecuted in the PRC. 11
SEC. 6. NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS AUTHORIZED. 12
No additional funds are authorized to carry out the 13
requirements of this Act. Such requirements shall be car-14
ried out using amounts otherwise authorized. 15
SEC. 7. ACCESS TO DETENTION FACILITIES AND PRISONS 16
AND THE RELEASE OF PRISONERS. 17
(a) S
TRATEGY ON POLITICALREEDUCATION AND 18
D
ETENTIONFACILITIES.—Not later than 180 days after 19
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 20
State, in consultation with the heads of other relevant 21
Federal departments and agencies, develop a strategy to 22
cooperate with like-minded partners to pressure the Peo-23
ple’s Republic of China to— 24
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(1) close all detention facilities and ‘‘political 1
reeducation’’ camps housing Uyghurs and members 2
of other ethnic minority groups in the XUAR; 3
(2) allow unhindered access to detention facili-4
ties and ‘‘political reeducation’’ camps in the XUAR 5
by independent media, researchers, international or-6
ganizations and the Office of the United Nations 7
High Commissioner for Human Rights for a com-8
prehensive assessment of the human rights situation; 9
and 10
(3) protect human rights and preserve the dis-11
tinct religious and cultural identity of the Uyghurs 12
and the other religious and ethnic minority commu-13
nities in the XUAR. 14
(b) R
EPORT ONSTRATEGY ANDIMPLEMENTATION.— 15
Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of 16
this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit to the Com-17
mittee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives 18
and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate 19
a report, including a classified annex if necessary, that in-20
cludes— 21
(1) the strategy developed pursuant to sub-22
section (a); and 23
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(2) all the steps taken to implement such strat-1
egy pursuant to the objectives described in sub-2
section (a). 3
SEC. 8. REQUIREMENT FOR UYGHUR LANGUAGE TRAINING. 4
(a) U
YGHURLANGUAGETRAINING ANDSTAFFING.— 5
The Secretary of State shall take such steps as may be 6
necessary to ensure that— 7
(1) Uyghur language training is available to 8
Foreign Service officers as appropriate; and 9
(2) every effort is made to ensure that at least 10
1 Uyghur-speaking member of the Foreign Service 11
(as such term is defined by section 103 of the For-12
eign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 3903)) is as-13
signed to each United States diplomatic or consular 14
post in China. 15
(b) R
EPORT.—No later than 1 year after the date 16
of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter for 17
2 years, the Foreign Service Institute shall submit to the 18
Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representa-19
tives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Sen-20
ate a report that outlines all the steps taken to implement 21
subsection (a). 22
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SEC. 9. UYGHUR CONSIDERATIONS AT THE UNITED NA-1
TIONS. 2
The President should direct the United States Per-3
manent Representative to the United Nations to use the 4
voice, vote, and influence of the United States to— 5
(1) oppose any efforts to prevent consideration 6
of the gross violation of internationally recognized 7
human rights in the XUAR in any body of the 8
United Nations; 9
(2) oppose any efforts to prevent the participa-10
tion of any Uyghur human rights advocates in non-11
governmental fora hosted by or otherwise organized 12
under the auspices of any body of the United Na-13
tions; and 14
(3) support the appointment of a special 15
rapporteur or working group for the XUAR for the 16
purposes of monitoring human rights violations and 17
abuses in the XUAR, and for making reports avail-18
able to the High Commissioner for Refugees, the 19
High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Human 20
Rights Commission, the General Assembly, and 21
other United Nations bodies. 22
Æ
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