China’s abuses targeting Uyghurs, Hongkongers and Tibetans are among some of the worst human rights violations around the world, the U.S. Department of State said Tuesday.
“The Chinese government continues to commit genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang against predominantly Muslim Uyghurs among other minority groups, to erode fundamental freedoms and autonomy in Hong Kong, and to carry out systematic repression in Tibet,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a press briefing before the release of the department’s 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.
The report, which the State Department is required to release each year by law, details the state of human rights and worker rights in 198 countries and territories.
The administration of former President Donald Trump officially determined in January 2021 that abuses in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Regions (XUAR) amounted to state-sponsored genocide and crimes against humanity. President Biden’s administration has agreed with the designation and has worked with its international allies on measures to hold the Chinese government to account.
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