Uyghur Genocide Accountability and Sanctions Act of 2025
Sponsored By: Representative Smith (NJ)
Introduced
Summary
Expanded sanctions and accountability for abuses in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. This bill would broaden the list of sanctionable crimes, require targeted company listings and mandatory entry bans with narrow waivers, fund survivor care and cultural preservation, and bar federal purchases tied to forced labor.
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- Would authorize the Secretary of State to fund medical, physical, and psychological care for Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and other oppressed people living outside China. Grants and training for local providers would be allowed and the federal share of those costs would be capped at 50%.
- Would bar executive agencies and Department of Defense commissaries from contracting with or buying PRC-origin products or with persons identified as complicit in abuses, with limited waiver authorities and required implementation reporting to Congress. It also mandates a governmentwide report on PRC-origin seafood purchases and national security implications.
- Would expand sanctionable conduct to explicitly include systematic rape, coercive abortion, forced sterilization, involuntary contraceptive implantation, organ-removal trafficking, forced child separation to boarding schools, and forced deportation or refoulement. It would require the Treasury to determine within 60 days whether named firms such as Hangzhou Hikvision, BGI Group, Dahua, Tiandy, China Electronics Technology Group, Uniview, and ByteDance meet criteria for OFAC designation, make entry bans mandatory with a written waiver process, and fund counter-propaganda, evidence gathering, and an organ-harvesting strategy.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
7 provisions identified: 4 benefits, 0 costs, 3 mixed.
Medical care for survivors abroad
This bill would let the State Department help pay for medical, physical, and mental health care for survivors from Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and other targeted groups who suffered abuses in China and now live outside China. The U.S. share could be up to 50% of costs. It would also fund grants to build local treatment centers and train providers. The Secretary would brief Congress within one year on services and projects.
Ban contracts with forced-labor suppliers
This bill would bar federal agencies from contracting with companies tied to genocide or forced labor in Xinjiang. Agencies could not contract with parties named in the Uyghur Human Rights report, suppliers whose goods were detained under the forced‑labor law, others the agency and State find complicit, or any party contributing to forced labor or violating core worker rights. Agencies would consult the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force. The President would report to Congress within 180 days on how the ban is applied.
Ban China seafood for troops
This bill would block the Defense Department from buying seafood that originates in or is processed in China for military dining, including Navy galleys. Raw or processed China seafood would also be barred from commissary shelves, with narrow waivers. The commissary sales ban would start 30 days after enactment; the broader procurement ban would start 90 days after enactment. The Secretary of State would have 120 days to report on government purchases of China seafood since FY2022 and any national‑security issues. Waivers could be used for overseas bases where a ban would unduly burden service, and for U.S. ships in foreign ports.
Broader sanctions and firm designations
If enacted, the government would expand what counts as sanctionable abuse in Xinjiang, including sexual violence, forced sterilization, organ trafficking, child separation, and forced returns to China. Covered persons would include people in Xinjiang and members of those groups abroad. The President would have to name those who knowingly support these acts and issue rules under emergency economic powers. Within 60 days of enactment, Treasury would decide whether to designate firms such as Hikvision, BGI, Tiandy, Dahua, CETC, Uniview, and ByteDance; if so, they would be added to the OFAC sanctions list. Treasury would send Congress an unclassified report explaining the decisions.
Entry bans for atrocity enablers
This bill would make entry bans mandatory for people complicit in forced sterilization, forced abortion, or similar abuses. The Secretary of State could grant a waiver only if the person is not directly complicit, admission is needed for U.N. or law‑enforcement duties, and it serves U.S. national security. The Secretary would notify Congress in writing for any waiver, announce when bans are used, and provide data to Members on request.
Support to document and counter abuses
This bill would let the State Department fund groups to collect and secure evidence of atrocities, train investigators, and protect witnesses. The Secretary would quickly compile cases of relatives of U.S. citizens or green card holders detained or missing in Xinjiang to support advocacy, in consultation with the Uyghur‑American community. Within 30 days, the Secretary would send Congress a plan to counter Chinese government propaganda, with goals and metrics, and could use an existing counter‑influence fund. Within 90 days, the Secretary would determine whether forced organ harvesting occurred in Xinjiang since 2017 and, if so, provide a strategy to respond.
Smithsonian fund to preserve cultures
This bill would authorize $2 million each year for fiscal years 2026 through 2029 for the Smithsonian to start a Repressed Cultures Preservation Initiative. The program would support research, exhibits, and education about threatened cultures, including groups targeted by officials in China.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Smith (NJ)
NJ • R
Cosponsors
Moolenaar
MI • R
Sponsored 8/1/2025
Suozzi
NY • D
Sponsored 8/1/2025
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
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