On July 9th, Campaign for Uyghurs, in cooperation with the International Religious Freedom Roundtable, held an event on the situation of the Uyghurs, described by Representative Jim McGovern, who attended the event, as “dire”. The discussion, moderated by IRF Roundtable co-chair Greg Mitchell, centered around legislative response to the atrocities, which are being labeled by many as genocide. 

Congressman McGovern shared the importance of passing the bill he has co-sponsored, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, stating that “..so much more needs to be done. While the Administration has taken some positive steps to block some Chinese suppliers, its actions fall far short of addressing the widespread and systematic use of forced labor in products entering the United States.” Congressman McGovern also affirmed that “It is long past time for companies all over the world to reassess their operations and supply chains and find alternatives that do not exploit the labor and violate the human rights of the Uyghur people.” 

Following his remarks, the panel discussion included speeches by Commissioner Nury Turkel of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), Uyghur political leader and co-leader of the Tiananmen protests Uerkesh Davlet, who is also the honorary chairman of the Campaign for Uyghurs, Dr. Adrian Zenz, who shared his research findings regarding the actions of China to prevent Uyghur births, Dolkun Isa, President of the World Uyghur Congress, and Alim Seytoff of Radio Free Asia Uyghur Service, who shared on the situation of Uyghurs and obstacles to reporting on the crisis. 

CFU Executive Director Ms. Rushan Abbas made closing remarks in which she highlighted the release of CFU’s new report, “Genocide in East Turkistan” and stated China that “no action should be considered too radical as we confront this genocidal regime.” 

At the close of the event, there was the commitment from panelists and attendees alike to develop continuing meaningful initiatives and cooperative efforts to address the atrocities carried out by the Chinese regime, and CFU looks forward to seeing the fruits of these efforts.