Ami Bera

We cannot let atrocities like what is happening to the Uyghur population occur in a vacuum.

How do we engage the Muslim majority countries in this fight?

I want to thank Chairman Meeks for his leadership in bringing us together today; Ranking Member McCaul for his partnership with us on this issue and in the defense of human rights around the world.

It is extraordinarily important to all of us, to all the people in the world, that the United States play its part in establishing this is wrong.

I also hope you will ensure that American Olympic athletes are not forced to compete in the shadow of the concentration camps at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.

we will not sit back and allow it to continue without the United States working with other international countries.

the sanctions, currently there have been 74 punitive sanctions that have been announced.

That is why I introduced the Uyghur Human Rights Protection Act in March, to provide priority to P-2 refugee status to Uyghurs and other minority groups facing persecution by the PRC government.

Our response to the Uyghur genocide should be an example of our character, rather than a stain on our history.

it is harmful to the human race for this still to be taking place in 2021.

We called upon the Biden Administration to get the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations to urge the body to investigate the ongoing human rights violations.

It does not seem like that resolve is shifting. If nothing else, it seems like the Burmese people are digging in.

Are there any specific steps that, you know, we ought to be thinking about as Congress to, again, support, you know, both the people?

I've heard up to 90 percent of the country is currently shut down with, you know, essentially, a general strike.

I do want to comment, however, that I, too, have great concern over the Rohingya and the situation that they face.

we need an American strategy to the region.

we need an American approach, and we need to play the long game.

By not ratifying that agreement, we are in a weaker position to hold the Chinese to these rules.

it is important for us to be in treaties like UNCLOS and international coalitions--so we can actually be at the table influencing the direction of these groups.

What we want to do is compete based on a rule of law.

I urge Congress to act quickly to pass Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which your committee marked up on April 21.

We have seen a dramatic rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans over the last year.

we embrace the AAPI community in our country.

I should point out my vice chair, the Congressman from Michigan, Andy Levin, he has got a very important resolution on the floor today, condemning the actions that we are seeing in Burma and standing with the Burmese people against this…

it's the politics that prevent us from recognizing that our climate is changing, that we're having more extreme events.