A U.S. Congressional report called on the White House to sanction Chinese officials involved in human rights abuses.
The bipartisan commission released its annual human rights report on Jan. 8. The report says that “rising authoritarianism in China” is one of the 21st century’s most important challenges.
“The commissioners found over the past year the human rights situation has worsened, and the rule of law continues to deteriorate,” Chairman of the House Rules Committee Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) said.
“Make no mistake, the Chinese Communist Party is committing crimes against humanity,” Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.) said.
The over 300-page report said that over the past few decades, the Chinese regime has “expanded a costly and elaborate authoritarian system designed to intimidate, censor, and even imprison Chinese citizens for exercising their fundamental human rights.”
Last year, Congress enacted the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act. The law included provisions that paved the way for sanctions against Chinese and Hong Kong officials responsible for rights abuses in the city.
“Now the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act has been signed into law,” McGovern said. “The administration should hold accountable any person who is responsible for arbitrary detention or other gross human rights violations.”
Congressman Christopher Smith (R-N.J.) said that now it is President Donald Trump’s decision whether to “faithfully and aggressively implement it, and I believe he will.”
The report also mentioned that as in previous years, the Chinese regime sustained suppression of faith groups—such as practitioners of Falun Gong meditation.
A report from Falun Gong information website Minghui.org confirmed 69 practitioners were killed in 2018.
Lawmakers on the commission also say that more needs to be done to stop the Chinese communist regime’s practice of forced organ harvesting.
“Falun Gong practitioners continue to face horrific conditions in detention, including violence, forced drug administration, sleep deprivation, and other forms of torture,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said.
“We’ll bring attention to it continually,” Smith said. “We believe, frankly, more must be done to stop it.”
This year’s report will be submitted to Trump and Congress.
Reporting by Kitty Wang, NTD News.
