42 Groups Support Swift Action on Uyghur Genocide Resolution in U.S. House of Representatives

Uyghur Human Rights Project
For Immediate Release
May 19, 2021 10:00 a.m. EDT
Contact: Louisa Greve +1 (571) 882-4825, Omer Kanat +1 (202) 790-1795

UHRP and 41 other human rights advocacy groups today jointly announced their support for swift action on a bipartisan resolution recognizing the Chinese government’s genocide against the Uyghur people. The 42 groups wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to convey their endorsement and support for swift passage.

“Uyghurs have called for urgent action at the UN Security Council for the past three years,” said UHRP Executive Director Omer Kanat. “I’m very grateful to Representative McCaul and Foreign Affairs Chairman Meeks for mobilizing this Congressional support.”

The resolution calls upon the President to “use the voice, vote, and influence of the United States” to refer the People’s Republic of China’s genocide and crimes against humanity to the United Nations for investigation. 

Most importantly, the Resolution calls for the President to direct the US Mission to the UN to seize the United Nations Security Council of the circumstances of this genocide and crimes against humanity and lead efforts to invoke multilateral sanctions in response to these ongoing atrocities; and take all possible actions to bring this genocide and these crimes against humanity to an end and hold the perpetrators of these atrocities accountable under international law.

Read the full letter here. 

The signatories are: Uyghur American Association, Uyghur Human Rights Project, Campaign for Uyghurs, World Uyghur Congress, Australian East Turkistan Association, Australian Uyghur Tangritagh Women’s Association, Belgium Uyghur Association, Boston Uyghur Association, Dutch Uyghur Human Rights and Democracy Foundation, East Turkistan Association of Canada, East Turkistan Education and Solidarity Association, East Turkistan Foundation, East Turkistan Human Rights Watch, East Turkistan Union in Europe, Isa Yusuf Alptekin Foundation, Japan Uyghur Association, Norwegian Uyghur Committee, Nozugum Foundation, Sweden Uyghur Education Union, Switzerland Uyghur Association, UK Uighur Association, Uyghur Human Rights and Democracy Center, Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project, Uyghur Transitional Justice Database, Victoria Uyghur Association, Global Center for the Responsibility to Protect, No Business with Genocide, Jewish World Watch, Minaret Foundation, Jewish Community Relations Council/American Jewish Committee Detroit (JCRC/AJC Detroit), Jewish Movement for Uyghur Freedom, Justice for All – Save Uighur Campaign, Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, Hong Kong Democracy Council, US, Human Rights in China, Humanitarian China, International Campaign for Tibet (ICT), International Tibet Network Secretariat, China Against the Death Penalty, China Aid, Citizen Power Initiatives for China, and Dialogue China.

Read more: 

Uyghur camp survivor’s testimony heard by House Foreign Affairs Committee, May 6, 202

UHRP welcomes Senate legislation to support safe haven for Uyghurs abroad, April 13, 2021 

USCIRF calls for international response to atrocities against Uyghurs, April 21, 2021

UPCOMING EVENT: June 3, 3 PM EST

Jun 3, 2021 3 PM Eastern Time, 12:00 PM Pacific Time

The Cardozo Society, the Middle Eastern Legal Association of Washington (MELAW) and the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle invite you to a current events symposium and CLE.

Introduction:

Elisha Wiesel

Speakers:

Commissioner Nury Turkel, U.S. Commission of International Religious Freedom

Professor Darren Byler, University of Washington, Dept. of Anthropology

Professor Donald Clarke, George Washington University School of Law

Professor Margaret Lewis, Seaton Hall University School of Law

Professor Emerita Sandra Silberstein, University of Washington, Dept. of English

The United States has called China’s mass detention, slave labor, and human rights abuses of Uyghurs a genocide. Yet, the rapidly developing tragedy is just now starting to receive the world’s needed attention.

This 90-minute symposium brings together world-leading experts and advocates to educate us about the history and reality of this ongoing human rights atrocity—and what individuals can do to speak up and take action.

Co-sposored by UHRP and JCRC/AJC of Detroit, European Union of Jewish Students, Holocaust Center for Humanity, Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington DC, Jewish Community Relations Council of Indianapolis, Jewish Movement for Uyghur Freedom, Jewish World Watch, Rene Cassin

Register here.

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