World Uyghur Congress calls for Magnitsky sanctions on China over human rights abuse

In a bid to ramp up pressure on Chinese President Xi Jinping’s government against their alleged ‘genocide’ of Uyghurs in the remote area of Xinjiang, the co-founder of Hong Kong Watch and adviser to the World Uyghur Congress Benedict Rogers called for Magnitsky sanctions on the Asian country’s leadership along with other entities. He said that human rights are “under severe assault in China since the Tiananmen massacre”. 

While speaking at a video conference hosted by Brussels Press Club with the theme ‘China’s continuing human rights violations: is it time to impose “Magnitsky” sanctions?’ on Monday, the adviser to the World Uyghur Congress said that he wants China to “be free” with the human rights being “reinstated” for the citizens. However, Rogers noted that it is “the regime of the Chinese Communist Party that is the problem.”

What is Magnitsky Act?

World Uyghurs Congress-called Magnitsky sanctions are modelled after the United States Magnitsky Act. It was passed back in 2012 in the memory of Russian lawyer and tax adviser Sergei Magnitsky who died while he was in Russian detention in 2009. He was not only tortured but was also denied medical treatment. Rogers, while underlining that the atrocities faced by Muslim ethnic minority indicate genocide, said that the human rights abuses in Hong Kong and Xinjiang justify the call for Magnitsky sanctions on China. 

“I absolutely agree that this has all the indicators of genocide, and indeed has been recognised as a genocide by the United States, by the Canadian parliament, by the Dutch parliament. The issues of the Uyghurs and the situation in Hong Kong in and of themselves should be enough to justify Magnitsky sanctions and an entire re-evaluation of our relationship (with China)… Human rights are under the most severe assault in China since the Tiananmen massacre, and in some respects since the Cultural Revolution,” said Rogers as quoted by ANI. 

UK to link Xinjiang with trade agreements

During the same conference, Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former leader of the Britsih Conservative Party and Secretary of State revealed that presently, there are discussions among British lawmakers to further link the trade agreement with China with the severe human rights abuses taking place in Xinjiang. The violations of human rights in China was also termed as a “big problem” by Smith. Similar remarks were echoed by Finnish Member of Parliament (MEP) Alviina Alametsa who urged the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) to stop the ongoing abuse in the Asian country.

“Right now in the House of Commons we are engaged in an attempt to try to link any future trade agreement with severe human rights abuses, and in this case, Genocide… The whole issue of China is, I think, a big problem facing the free world now,” he said.