(WASHINGTON, D.C., 9/28/21) — The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on President Biden to publicly announce his administration’s support for the adoption of the congressional Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act following White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Monday being unable to answer whether the administration supports the bill to ban Chinese goods made with Uyghur Muslim and other Turkic minority slave labor.
Action Alert: Urge President Biden to Endorse Uyghur Slave Labor Bill
https://action.cair.com/a/action-alert-urge-president-biden-endorse-uyghur-slave-labor-bill
On Monday, Psaki expressed to Real Clear Politics that she did not know whether President Biden supports the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. CAIR’s call on President Biden follows an article published by Real Clear Politics writer Philip Wegmann, who reports that:
“…some Republican lawmakers are demanding to know if [White House Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John] Kerry has been quietly lobbying against anti-slave labor legislation in Washington to secure diplomatic breathing room before his climate talks in Beijing.”
SEE: Real Clear Politics: Republicans Say Kerry Is Lobbying Against Slave Labor Bill
In a statement, CAIR Director of Government Affairs Department Robert S. McCaw said:
“CAIR is calling on President Biden to explicitly state his administration’s support for the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.
“The lives of Uyghur Muslims and other Turkic minorities in China are not a bargaining chip to secure the Biden-Harris administration’s climate change goals. Uyghur Muslims are facing a genocide and are being forced into slave labor by the Chinese government.
“Human life is precious, priceless in fact, and far more valuable than the cheap solar panels Uyghur Muslims are being forced to assemble – the same solar panels that White House Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry is bargaining for with the Chinese government.”
According to RealClearPolitics, in a letter obtained exclusively by the news media group, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) have expressed concern to the White House that Kerry “is downplaying the genocide precisely because he intends to import solar panels that are produced using forced labor in the [People’s Republic of China] PRC to the United States in order to meet your administration’s climate goals.”
In July, CAIR welcomed the U.S. Senate’s unanimous passage of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act and called on the House of Representatives to adopt the bill without delay. CAIR endorsed the act in March.
CLICK HERE: Urge Your Members of Congress to Support the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act
The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act would create a “rebuttable presumption” that any goods made in the Xinjiang are made with forced labor and prohibited from entering the United States unless “clear and convincing” evidence is shown to the contrary.
In March, the U.S. Department of State published its 2020 Human Rights Report. The report confirmed the United States’ determination that China’s ongoing atrocities against Uyghur Muslims and other Turkic minorities constitute an act of genocide and crime against humanity. These atrocities include the destruction of thousands of ancient houses of worship, including the Duling Mosque.
In June, Amnesty International released a report describing China’s abuse of its Uyghur Muslim minority as a “dystopian hellscape.”
Last week, the #BoycottHilton Coalition, made up of more than 40 American and international organizations, called on the UN Global Compact to begin the process of removing Hilton Worldwide (NYSE: HLT) as a participant over that corporation’s violations of its principles by entering into an agreement – one that it could terminate – to license the construction of a Hampton Hotel on the site of a bulldozed mosque in the Uyghur region of China.
CLICK HERE: Read #BoycottHilton’s Letter to the United Nations
Two weeks ago, the coalition held a news conference outside The Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C., to announce a worldwide boycott of Hilton Worldwide.
Full Video: CAIR, Coalition Announce Boycott of Hilton Over Hotel on Site of Uyghur Mosque in China
The coalition also launched a Change.org petition drive asking signatories to take a pledge “to join the global boycott of ALL Hilton-owned hotels until the company cancels its plan to establish a hotel on the site of a bulldozed Uyghur mosque in China.
GO TO: https://www.change.org/BoycottHilton
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La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
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CONTACT: CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com