(WASHINGTON, D.C., 4/14/23) – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today commended the efforts of congressional lawmakers for urging greater enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) to combat the ongoing human rights abuses faced by the Uyghur Muslim and other Turkic minority communities in China.
Yesterday, Representative Christopher H. Smith (R-NJ) and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), the Chair and Cochair, respectively, of the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), released a letter to Department of Homeland Security Under Secretary Robert P. Silvers urging the Biden administration to increase transparency, prioritize the implementation, and enforcement of the UFLPA.
Specifically, the letter:
- “[S]eek[s] greater transparency about this review process and more clarity why goods stopped based on evidence of a link to the XUAR or labor transfer programs outside the XUAR are being cleared without congressional or public reporting.”
- “[R]equest[s] that the [DHS’s Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force list] accelerate its efforts to expand the Entity List as soon as possible, and to continually update that list during the year as circumstances require, utilizing fully the data provided by reputable civil society organizations
- [R]equest[s] that, in its annual reporting to Congress on updating the implementation strategy under UFLPA, CBP report on how it intends to address this challenge of transshipment of [Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region]-related goods, what kind of tools and technology it plans to employ, and what, if any, further resources it needs in this effort.
In a statement, CAIR Director of Government Affairs Department Robert S. McCaw said:
“We applaud the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China for calling on the Biden administration to exert greater transparency and enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act to combat the ongoing human rights abuses against the Uyghur Muslim community in China. The UFLPA is a crucial tool in holding China accountable for its use of forced labor and mass internment camps targeting Uyghur Muslims and other Turkic minorities.”
The Uyghur community in China is facing an unprecedented crisis, with millions of people being subjected to arbitrary detention, forced labor, beatings, sexual cruelty, and other forms of persecution. It is essential that the United States take concrete steps to address this crisis and ensure that the UFLPA is enforced to its fullest extent.
CAIR is calling on the Biden administration to increase its efforts to implement and enforce the UFLPA and to work with our allies around the world to hold China accountable for its gross human rights violations.
Yesterday, condemned the Chinese government’s reported use of spies to keep Muslim Uyghurs from fasting during the holy month of Ramadan.
According to a report by Radio Free Asia, Chinese officials have deployed spies in neighborhoods in the Xinjiang province to monitor their adherence to religious practices during Ramadan. During the first week of Ramadan, authorities reportedly summoned 56 Uyghur residents and former detainees to interrogate them about their activities and determined that 54 of them violated the law by fasting.
SEE: CAIR Condemns Chinese Government’s Use of Spies to Disrupt Muslim Uyghurs’ Observance of Ramadan
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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 National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com, CAIR National Communications Coordinator Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com