Press Release
HR 4829, the Transnational Repression Policy Act, and HR 4830, the Uyghur Genocide Accountability and Sanctions Act of 2025Smith unveils two complimentary bills to fight Chinese Communist Party repression and defend human rightsToday, Rep. Chris Smith (R‑NJ), Co‑Chair of the Congressional‑Executive Commission on China (CECC), introduced two strong, complimentary bills designed to defend human rights and hold authoritarian regimes accountable for their abuses. The first bill, HR 4829, the Transnational Repression Policy Act, confronts the growing menace of foreign governments that seek to intimidate and silence dissidents on American soil. The second bill, HR 4830, the Uyghur Genocide Accountability and Sanctions Act of 2025, expands U.S. authority to punish and deter the Chinese Communist Party’s campaign of mass internment, forced labor, and cultural erasure against the Uyghur and other Turkic peoples. “The Transnational Repression Policy Act recognizes that authoritarian regimes no longer confine their oppression within their own borders,” said Smith. “Under my new legislation, the State Department will coordinate a whole-of-government strategy to disrupt networks that harass, surveil, or threaten activists, journalists, and other community leaders living lawfully in the United States. “Through the combination of diplomacy, targeted sanctions, law enforcement training, and outreach to vulnerable diaspora communities, my bill will ensure that those who wield coercion around the globe will not be accommodated or tolerated by the United States,” said Smith, a noted human rights defender and senior U.S. lawmaker. Building on the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020, Smith’s second bill, HR 4830, the Uyghur Genocide Accountability and Sanctions Act of 2025, closes critical gaps in U.S. law to confront the full extent of atrocities occurring in Xinjiang, China. “The Uyghur Genocide Accountability bill—HR 4830—empowers the President to freeze assets and impose visa bans on individuals responsible for forced organ harvesting, mass sterilizations, and the separation of Uyghur families,” Smith stated. “The Uyghur Genocide Accountability bill also prohibits U.S. government contracts with companies complicit in forced‑labor supply chains, cuts off purchases of seafood products linked to coercive labor practices, and provides medical, psychological, and legal assistance to survivors now living outside China,” said Smith, who has chaired 107 congressional hearings on human rights abuses in China and the impact on U.S. national security and trade. “Authoritarian regimes—from Beijing to beyond—are no longer content to oppress their own citizens,” said Smith. “They are stalking students on our campuses, intimidating activists in our neighborhoods, and committing atrocities halfway around the world. With these two bills, Congress is sending a clear, bipartisan message: wherever they face tyranny, America will defend the fundamental rights of all people, and we will hold perpetrators of genocide and transnational repression to account.” Smith called on his colleagues in both chambers to swiftly pass these measures, noting that firm action today is essential to deterring tomorrow’s abuses and reinforcing America’s leadership in promoting human dignity and the rule of law throughout the globe. ### Contact: |