The U.S. State Division introduced Monday a spherical of sanctions towards Chinese language officers concerned within the repression of non secular and ethnic minority teams.

The measures goal these "believed to be liable for, or complicit in, insurance policies or actions geared toward repressing ethnic and spiritual minority teams, together with those that search security overseas, and U.S. residents, who converse out on behalf of those weak populations," in line with a division assertion.

The transfer comes as accusations towards China for human rights abuses proceed to mount. Late final yr, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's genocide prevention heart launched a report detailing human rights abuses towards the Uyghur Muslim minority group in China's Xinjiang province utilizing first-hand testimony and different data offered by dissidents. The report stated the Chinese language authorities had put the Uyghurs via pressured sterilization, torture, enslavement and extra.

This isn't the primary time China has been sanctioned by the U.S. for human rights points. In late 2019 via 2020, Chinese language officers have been sanctioned attributable to human rights abuses in Hong Kong, in line with the Council on Overseas Relations. By the tip of 2020 and the start of 2021, the allegations of genocide and different human rights abuses towards the Uyghurs in Xinjiang triggered extra rounds of sanctions towards China.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken known as the sanctioned people "perpetrators of human rights abuses" in a tweeted assertion.

"The US has taken motion to impose visa restrictions on PRC officers for trying to intimidate, harass, and repress dissidents and human rights defenders inside and outdoors of China," he wrote.

The sanctions put restrictions on the officers' visas, the State Division's assertion stated. They aim officers believed to be concerned within the repression of people resembling "non secular and non secular practitioners," members of ethnic minority teams, journalists, human rights activists, peaceable protesters and extra.

The assertion additionally stated China had tried to "silence" Uyghur Individuals and different Uyghurs working with the U.S. by "denying exit permission to their relations in China."

The genocide prevention heart's report additionally stated Uyghurs have undergone atrocities resembling sexual violence, pressured labor, prohibitions on non secular and cultural expression, and destruction of cultural and spiritual property.

Many criticized the internet hosting of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing final month, with activists saying the spectacle of the video games distracted from the crimes towards humanity occurring in Xinjiang.

"We name on the PRC authorities to finish its ongoing genocide and crimes towards humanity in Xinjiang, repressive insurance policies in Tibet, crackdown on basic freedoms in Hong Kong, and human rights violations and abuses, together with violations of non secular freedom, elsewhere within the nation," the State Division's assertion stated.

Replace 03/21/22 5:40 p.m. ET: This story was up to date so as to add extra data and background.

U.S. Sanctions China for Human Rights Abuses
The U.S. has sanctioned China over its remedy of non secular minorities. Above, a Uyghur household prays on the grave of a cherished one on September 12, 2016, at an area shrine and cemetery in Turpan County, China.Picture by Kevin Frayer/Getty Pictures