Washington DC: The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission hosted a virtual hearing titled, “The Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act: Taking Stock” on Wednesday. According to the event, the hearing was held in order to give panel members and the public, “an opportunity to review how the sanctions authority has been implemented, how effective the sanctions have been in achieving their objectives, and whether any adjustments are needed to the original statute.”
The event was co-hosted by Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission co-chairs Congressman James McGovern and Chris Smith.
During the hearing, Congressman Smith specifically mentioned the ongoing repression in Tibet in addition to Xinjiang.
Panellists included Senator Benjamin Cardin, President of Human Rights First Michael Breen, General Counsel Brad Brooks-Rubin, Stanford Professor Beth Van Schaack, Executive Director for EG Justice Tutu Alicante, and Senior Fellow for the Center for A New American Security John Hughes.
Over 240 individuals have been sanctioned through Global Magnitsky Sanctions.
Earlier this week, the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, in coordination with the European Union, Canada, and the United Kingdom, imposed sanctions on Wang Junzheng, the secretary of the Party Committee of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, and Chen Mingguo, director of the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau because of their direct link to the Uyghur genocide. Last year, the US treasury department sanctioned Chen Quanguo, the former party secretary (though the sanctions were applied with the intent to punish Chen for his role as the Communist Party Secretary of Xinjiang).
Earlier this week, House of Representative Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement regarding the coordinated international sanctions. Speaker Pelosi pointedly highlighted the unique human rights abuses of Uyghurs, Tibetans, Hong Kongers, journalists, and human rights advocates in: “The Biden Administration’s coordinated sanctions on China are a strong and resounding step to hold China accountable for its barbaric atrocities against the Uyghur people. These sanctions make absolutely clear that America and the international community stand as one to defend the rights and dignity of the Uyghur people from China’s abuse…America, together with our allies, will continue to hold Beijing accountable for its campaign of human rights abuses, including those targeting the Tibetan people, people of Hong Kong and journalists, human rights lawyers and advocates on the mainland. If America does not speak out for human rights in China because of commercial issues, we lose all moral authority to speak out for human rights in any place in the world.”
– filed by Office of Tibet, Washington DC