H.R. 2635 — Uyghur Policy Act of 2025

This section states 18 congressional findings concerning the People's Republic of China's (PRC) repression of Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), including mass arbitrary detentions exceeding 1,000,000 individuals in political reeducation centers with reports of torture and inhumane conditions; an official campaign of Han Chinese migration, hiring discrimination, and unequal healthcare access; manipulation of counterterrorism efforts to justify oppression; harassment of expatriates; and determinations of genocide and crimes against humanity by U.S. Secretaries of State Antony Blinken, Michael Pompeo, and Marco Rubio, as well as parliaments of the United Kingdom, Belgium, Czechia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and Canada.

This section expresses the sense of Congress that the People's Republic of China should (1) open the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) to unmanipulated visits by press, international organizations, academics, human rights groups, and foreign delegations including the U.S. Congress; (2) protect the ethnic, cultural, religious, and linguistic identities of Uyghurs and other XUAR minorities; (3) cease crackdowns, imprisonments, and detentions repressing such identities; (4) end transnational repression of Uyghurs; (5) immediately release specified prisoners including Ekper Asat (15-year sentence for "inciting ethnic hatred"), Dr. Gulshan Abbas (20-year sentence), and Kamile Wayit (detained December 12, 2022); and (6) allow humanitarian access to "political reeducation" centers. The section further commends countries such as Turkey, Albania, and Germany for sheltering exiled Uyghurs; urges other nations to condemn the situation; and directs the Department of State to continue disseminating information on related human rights, religious freedom, and repression issues.

This section directs the Secretary of State, as appropriate, to undertake specified actions to support Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minority groups in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), including (1) prioritizing policies, programs, and projects for such groups; (2) promoting protection of their ethnic, religious, cultural, and linguistic identity and improved human rights; (3) maintaining close contact with Uyghur leaders, including through travel; (4) coordinating efforts to release political prisoners in the XUAR; (5) consulting with Congress; (6) coordinating aid to Uyghur rights advocates; (7) engaging foreign ministries, especially in Europe, Central Asia, and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC); (8) utilizing the OIC and U.S. Strategic Dialogue for Uyghur rights initiatives; (9) supporting independent media authorized under 22 U.S.C. 6208 (i.e., Radio Free Asia, which broadcasts news and commentary to Asia) for XUAR-focused reporting in local languages; and (10) addressing transnational repression against Uyghur Americans and exiled Uyghurs through awareness, strategies, a reporting mechanism, and annual reports to Congress (including a classified annex if necessary) on related U.S. actions and recommendations. The section further requires the Department of State to have adequate resources to implement these activities and terminates five years after enactment.

This section authorizes $250,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 through 2027, from amounts appropriated for the United States Speaker Program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the Department of State, to support human rights advocates for Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minority groups persecuted in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). The advocates, selected by the Department of State in consultation with the global Uyghur community, may speak at global public diplomacy forums—particularly those attended by Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries and other Muslim-majority countries—on human rights and religious freedom issues affecting those groups.

This section directs the Secretary of State, in consultation with other relevant federal agencies, to develop within 180 days of enactment a strategy to cooperate with like-minded partners to pressure China to (1) close all detention facilities and political reeducation camps in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) housing Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities; (2) allow unhindered access to such facilities by independent media, researchers, international organizations, and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for a human rights assessment; and (3) protect human rights and preserve the religious and cultural identity of Uyghurs and other minorities in the XUAR. It further requires the Secretary to submit to the House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations Committees, within one year of enactment, a report on the strategy and implementation steps, including a classified annex if necessary.

This section requires the Secretary of State to (1) make Uyghur language training available to Foreign Service officers as appropriate; and (2) assign at least one Uyghur-speaking member of the Foreign Service (i.e., personnel defined in 22 U.S.C. 3903, such as chiefs of mission, ambassadors at large, Senior Foreign Service members, Foreign Service officers, personnel, foreign national employees, and consular agents) to each U.S. diplomatic or consular post in China. It further directs the Foreign Service Institute to submit to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations a report on implementation steps no later than one year after enactment of this Act and annually thereafter for two years.

This section directs the President to instruct the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations to use the U.S. voice, vote, and influence to (1) oppose efforts to prevent consideration of gross human rights violations in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in any UN body; (2) oppose efforts to prevent participation by Uyghur human rights advocates in UN-affiliated nongovernmental fora; and (3) support appointment of a special rapporteur or working group to monitor XUAR human rights violations and report to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, High Commissioner for Human Rights, Human Rights Commission, General Assembly, and other UN bodies.