The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Department of the Treasury has sanctioned four individuals and one Chinese government entity pursuant to Executive Order 13818, for their connection to human rights abuses in Xinjiang, China. The designated individuals include the Communist Party Secretary and the former Deputy Party Secretary of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau and a current and former official of the Bureau. According to OFAC, the Bureau and three named individuals have orchestrated or participated in the arbitrary detention, repressive surveillance, and physical abuse of ethnic Kyrgyz, Kazakhs and Uyghurs.
Executive Order 13818, issued in December 2017 pursuant to the executive’s authority under the Global Magnitsky Act, enables US authorities to block the property of persons involved in serious human rights abuse or corruption. Following these designations, US property of the designated parties is blocked, and transactions by US persons involving the property of blocked persons are generally prohibited.