By Annual Human Rights report criticizes china
With all that has happened in the media recently, there has been an important development that has been minimally covered. The Biden Administration has made it the official policy of the US government that China is committing genocide against the Uyghur people. (Read more here)
The US State Department, in the annual human rights report, detailed the abuses of the Chinese Government, in spite of Beijings resistance to this language, taking a strong stand on human rights.
The Washington Post stated, “The China section of the report says that genocide against minority groups in Xinjiang continues and includes “the arbitrary imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty of more than one million civilians; forced sterilization, coerced abortions, and more restrictive application of China’s birth control policies; rape; torture of a large number of those arbitrarily detained; forced labor; and the imposition of draconian restrictions on freedom of religion or belief, freedom of expression, and freedom of movement.”
We can only applaud the Biden administration for taking such a strong position on the crisis the Uyghur are facing. It is a welcome relief to see this statement emerge from the Biden administration, who are showing a pattern of standing up for human rights.
Criticism of Trump-Era policies
Over the last four years we have witnessed such an ongoing destruction of human rights, the terrorism of the white supremacist, the hate rhetoric of Trump and his people, and the rolling back of human rights legislation in everything including abortion rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, among others.
The report criticized the inconsistency of the Trump administration and made it clear that the Biden administration does not intend to take such a relativistic stance, but to stand up for all rights, decrying the “hierarchy” that characterized the Trump-era government, where some people’s rights were clearly de-prioritized.
2022 Olympic Games
The outcry in defense of the rights of the Uyghurs is growing louder, but whether it will make any impact remains to be seen. A noticeable opportunity to put pressure on the Chinese government is the 2022 Olympics, but many have stated that sports and politics, especially the Olympics should be delinked.
However, there is a history of boycotts of the Olympic games in times of political conflict and perhaps this is something which should be considered.
The Biden administration for now has sanctioned some top Chinese officials, and it remains to be seen what develops between the China and the world around this issue. This declaration is a sign of hope.