The US, Canada, EU and UK sanctioned Chinese government officials on Monday for what Canada’s Global Affairs described as “gross and systematic human rights violations.”

Canada’s sanctions are against four officials and one entity that have been linked to human rights violations in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, particularly against Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities. Various reports have shown evidence that the violations occurring in this region are state-led and have included mass arbitrary detention, “political re-education, forced labour, torture and forced sterilization.”

Two of the officials sanctioned by the US are Wang Junzheng, the Secretary of the Party Committee of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, and Chen Mingguo, the Director of the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau (XPSB). The US sanctions are in effect pursuant to Executive Order 13818, entitled “Blocking the Property of Persons Involved in Serious Human Rights Abuse or Corruption.” The order states that those committing such “serious human rights abuse and corruption around the world constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.” Furthermore, the order lists the severity of human rights abuses and recognizes that the same have reached such scope and gravity as to “threaten the stability of international political and economic systems.”

The UK’s sanctions were also against four Chinese governmental officials as well as the Public and Security Bureau of the Xinjian Production and Construction Corps.

These countries also issued a joint statement on Monday condemning the reported human rights violations and calling on China to take stronger measures to end them:

We, the Foreign Ministers of Canada and the United Kingdom, and the United States Secretary of State, are united in our deep and ongoing concern regarding China’s human rights violations and abuses in Xinjiang. The evidence, including from the Chinese Government’s own documents, satellite imagery, and eyewitness testimony is overwhelming. China’s extensive program of repression includes severe restrictions on religious freedoms, the use of forced labour, mass detention in internment camps, forced sterilisations, and the concerted destruction of Uyghur heritage.

Today, we have taken coordinated action on measures, in parallel to measures by the European Union, that send a clear message about the human rights violations and abuses in Xinjiang. We are united in calling for China to end its repressive practices against Uyghur Muslims and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang, and to release those arbitrarily detained.

In a quick response to the sanctions, Beijing issued its own punitive measures against the EU, banning trade from various European individuals and their businesses.