US Lawmakers Seek To Designate China's Abuses Against Uyghurs As Genocide - Senator

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 27th October, 2020) A bipartisan group of US Senators have introduced a resolution to designate human rights abuses perpetrated by China against Uyghurs as genocide, Senator Marco Rubio's office said in a press release on Tuesday.

"US Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) joined Senators John Cornyn (R-TX), Jim Risch (R-ID) and Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Chairman and Ranking Member, respectively, of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, in introducing a bipartisan resolution to designate human rights abuses perpetrated by the People's Republic of China against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang as genocide," the release said.

The measure stipulates that China should be held accountable under the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the release said.

Moreover, the resolution also calls for a coordinated international response to halt the alleged abuses, the release added.

On September 22, the US House of Representatives passed legislation to ban imports of products made with what it called "forced labor" in Xinjiang amid accusations that Uyghurs are being held in detention camps.

In June, President Donald Trump signed into law the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act that allows the US government to impose sanctions over alleged human rights violations of the Muslim Uyghur minority in China.

The Chinese government has denied the charges, saying that the camps were built to provide vocational and Chinese language training for Uyghurs and other minorities.