Activists urged a Canadian government labor watchdog to investigate 14 big-brand firms alleged to be profiting by turning a blind eye to abusive conditions in China. Fast-fashion giant Shein is also under scrutiny.
Scholars and activists say that efforts in Europe and America to combat forced labor in China are not enough.
Activists and U.S. officials have hailed legislation intended to stop goods made with coerced Uyghur labor, but complain that tainted goods are still reaching U.S. markets in large numbers.
Erkin Tuniyaz, the most senior Uyghur Party official working for the Xinjiang government, was supposed to visit at least three European capitals. The trip was ‘postponed’ after a multinational, cross-party hue and cry.
Activists and a former victim of internment and forced labor sued the British government for failing to act on reports of forced labor in cotton supply chains. They lost the case, but say the wording of the judgment was an “important vindication” for persecuted Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other Muslim minorities.
Half a year after Washington enacted a set of laws intended to prevent products of coerced labor from entering the U.S. market, supply chains in the solar power and apparel industries are snarled up, but it’s uncertain if the Uyghurs themselves have seen any benefit.
Eliot Chen, a staff writer at the Wire China, explains how goods with ties to Xinjiang are still up for grabs in U.S. stores — despite Washington’s ban on forced labor.
The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) stands accused of widespread human rights abuses in Xinjiang, but its operations are fundamental to Beijing’s economic plans for the region.
The two conventions were passed by Beijing on April 20, in a move apparently intended to ease tensions over forced labor accusations in Xinjiang.
After over a year of deliberations, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act has passed both the House and Senate in the U.S. Congress. President Biden is expected to sign the bill into law soon. Here’s what it would do.