Updated legislation has been reintroduced that would prevent any goods from entering the United States unless there is proof they do not contain inputs originating from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of China.
The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (H.R. 1155) introduced by Representative James McGovern (D-MA) is an updated version of H.R. 6210, which passed the House in September 2020 by a vote of 406-3.
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It would create a “rebuttable presumption” that any goods made in XUAR are produced with forced labour and prohibited from entering the United States unless “clear and convincing” evidence is shown to the contrary.
“We have watched in horror as the Chinese government first created, and then expanded a system of extrajudicial mass internment camps targeting Uyghurs and Muslim minorities. We now know the entire XUAR economy is built upon a foundation of forced labor and repression,” McGovern said.
“Many US, international, and Chinese corporations are complicit in the exploitation of forced labour and these products continue to make their way into global supply chains and our country. It is long past time for the Congress to act.”
Rep. Thomas Suozzi (D-NY) added: “The US must stay true to its moral duty and turn away all products from Xinjiang unless it can be proven they were not made with forced labour.”
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By GlobalDataThe legislation would:
- Prohibit all imports from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of China unless US Customs and Border Protection can certify they are not produced, either wholly or in part, with forced labour;
- Authorise the President to apply targeted sanctions on anyone responsible for the labour trafficking of Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities;
- Require financial disclosures from US publicly traded businesses about their engagement with Chinese companies and other entities engaged in mass surveillance, mass interment, forced labor and other serious human rights abuses in the XUAR;
- Require a strategy report from the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force (established by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement Implementation Act) and regular updates on the steps taken to enforce the import prohibition on forced labor made goods from the XUAR.
It is estimated that up to 1.8 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Hui, and other predominately Muslim ethnic minorities have been arbitrarily detained in a system of extrajudicial mass internment camps where they are subjected to forced labour, torture, and political indoctrination.
Last month US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issues a withhold release order (WRO) authorising it to detain cotton products – including apparel and textiles – at US ports of entry if they’re suspected of exploiting Xinjiang forced labour at any point in their supply chain, including the production or harvesting of the raw material.
