Lankford Continues to Call Out Communist Chinese Government for Atrocities Against Uyghurs

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Senator James Lankford (R-OK) today issued the following statement after the Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) released its report entitled, “To Make Us Slowly Disappear: The Chinese Government’s Assault on the Uyghurs.” In January, the State Department under President Trump issued a determination that the Chinese Communist Party is committing crimes against humanity and genocide against Uyghurs and Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.

“We must speak for those who can’t speak for themselves, particularly as China seeks to expand its influence, and commit acts of violence and oppression that result in gross abuses of fundamental human rights, including religious freedom,” said Lankford. “We cannot continue to allow China to get away with these horrible acts without accountability from the US and the broader international community. No one is better at covering things up than the communist Chinese government, which is why I have worked for years to promote investment in firewall circumvention technology and Internet freedom in China. Even with the limited information publically available due to China’s cover-up, the report shows the clear presence of crimes against humanity, a determination that would have sweeping international effects on addressing China’s human rights abuses.”

Lankford has been a leader in advancing religious liberty around the world, for which he was awarded the inaugural International Religious Freedom (IRF) Champion Award, presented by Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback under the Trump Administration. In May, Lankford sent a letter to President Biden on the pressing need for him to immediately offer a nominee to the position of Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom. Lankford responded to the release of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom’s (USCIRF) annual report. Earlier this year, Lankford pushed to hold China accountable for its abuses of Uyghurs when he joined Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) to introduce a bill to ensure goods made with Uyghur forced labor in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) do not enter the US.

###