Letter to Stephen F. Lynch, Chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on National Security - "This is genocide': Oversight Republicans Call for National Security Hearing on Chinese Government's Persecution of the Uighur People

Letter

Dear Chairman Lynch:

We write to urge you to hold a hearing examining the atrocities being committed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) against religious minorities in that country. We must determine the extent of the CCP's suppression of minorities, ensure that the administration is doing everything in its power to respond, and examine whether there is a need for additional legislation. It is time to shine a bright light on these atrocities and the actions of the CCP.

As a Republic founded on the self-evident truth that men are endowed with certain inalienable rights, our country stands with those who face religious persecution, wherever they are. It is the policy of the United States to condemn violations of religious freedom and to promote religious freedom around the world. I am encouraged by recent actions by President Trump to signal that the United States is a global leader on this issue, including by issuing an Executive order recognizing that religious freedom around the world "is a moral and national security imperative."

We are particularly disturbed by recent evidence -- coming from data taken from the CCP's own documents that the CCP is conducting mass forced sterilizations of women, forced abortions, and utilizing mandatory invasive birth control measures to reduce family size among the Uighur people. Those who resist or violate these forced abortion and birth control policies may be placed in internment camps, which already hold over a million ethnic Uighurs.

The CCP was already systematically working to exterminate the presence of Uighur culture and religion, including by incarcerating over a million people, but now they are even trying to eliminate Uighur families and suppress births. This is genocide and it demands immediate action.

I, along with a group of 76 other bipartisan, bicameral colleagues, recently called on the Trump Administration to implement sanctions for those working with CCP authorities responsible for forced sterilizations and abortions pursuant to 8 U.S.C. 1182e. The Administration heeded that call to action and began implementing those sanctions on July 9, 2020. I am pleased that the Administration recognizes the CCP's attacks on religious freedom and is taking them seriously.

This Subcommittee must determine what more can be done to stand up for the oppressed and hold the CCP accountable for these egregious violations of human dignity. We cannot sit idly by and permit the CCP to wipe out a religious minority.

I request an immediate in-person hearing to examine the role of the CCP in perpetrating genocide and determine whether any gaps exist and what legislative solutions are needed to fill them. Even if this was not a pressing domestic and global national security issue, it is our moral duty to stand for those that cannot stand for themselves.

I look forward to working with you on this important matter. To schedule the hearing or ask any follow-up or related questions, please contact Committee on Oversight and Reform staff at (202) 225-5074.

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