This op-ed was originally published by the New York Times on January 20, 2021. Companies in the labor transfer program are often in labor-intensive industries, so they asked: is the growing and labor-intensive P.P.E. Companies need to implement robust preventative and transparency measures, with their compliance departmentsnot their communications departmentsleading the way. Rebutting the Forced Labor Presumption The UK government must toughen measures to tackle modern slavery, including more penalties to compel businesses to ensure Uighur forced labour is not used in their supply chains, according to a . I understand that in some of these poor countries it may not be clear who may be violating human rights in some way but there should be minimum due diligence standards. Demand Nike and other listed companies to stop sourcing their products from Uyghur forced labor. The programs target the countrys Muslim minority population, particularly Uyghurs living in Xinjiang. An official website of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The Act, codified under 22 U.S.C. We will continue doing all we can to protect workers and ensure they are treated with dignity and respect, the spokesperson said. Apple lists both . Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Apple spokesman Josh Rosenstock said the company has confirmed that Lens Technology has not received any labor transfers of Uighur workers from Xinjiang. Those factories claim to be part of the supply chain of 83 well-known global brands., The Fair Labor Association has also written a statement calling to an end of all forced labor in East Turkestan: The Fair Labor Association (FLA) is deeply troubled by credible reports of forced labor and other violations of fundamental human rights in the Xinjiang region of China. Apple, whichhas saidthat it is is committed to donating to organizations that challenge racial injustice and mass incarceration, has protested that it rigorously audits companies in its supply chain to make sure that Apples products arent derived from forced labor, saying in a statement to WaPo that Apple has zero tolerance for forced labor.. Preparing for June 21, 2022 They added: The tainted global supply chain that results from these practices means that it is now difficult to guarantee that products manufactured in China are free from forced labour., This is a BETA experience. The Entity List is a tool utilized by BIS to restrict the export, reexport, and transfer (in-country) of items subject to the EAR to persons (individuals, organizations, companies) reasonably believed to be involved, or to pose a significant risk of becoming involved, in activities contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States. DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations. However, each company and industry will have unique risks and therefore we may see bespoke risk assessments, supply chain ethical goals and resulting due diligence approaches. As you are likely aware, Congress recently passed, and the President signed into law, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (the Act). We take allegations of human rights abuses seriously, including those related to the use or export of forced labor. Amazon suppliers must not use forced labor slave, prison, indentured, bonded, or otherwise, its standards read. 1307, CBP is authorized to issue WROs to ban imports on goods and merchandise produced wholly or in part from forced or indentured labor, including child labor or convict labor. Here are some of the 83 brands listed in the report as being connected to those factories using forced labor. . Six of the seven suppliers were said to participate in work programs operated by the Chinese government, The Information reports, which human rights groups describe as frequently offering cover for forced labor. The report and process for its preparation also are designed to help CBP improve its capacity to administer the import ban. It is incumbent upon you as an importer to apply due diligence, effective supply chain tracing, and supply chain management measures to ensure that such imports are free from any goods mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part with forced labor from the Peoples Republic of China, especially from the XUAR. Additional license requirements apply to exports, re-exports, and transfers (in-country) of items subject to the EAR to listed entities, and the availability of most license exceptions is limited. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. 2023 Vox Media, LLC. The report estimates that more than 80,000 Uighurs were transferred to work in factories across China between 2017 and 2019. Fila LL Bean Hugo Boss Lacoste Li-Ning The North Face Skechers Tommy Hilfiger Victoria's Secret Zara Zegna Anta Jansport Clothing Brands Versace Jimmy Choo Michael Kors Chanel Costco Hanes Hermes Gucci Balenciaga Yves Saint Laurent The UFLPA Entity List can be found in the Strategy to Prevent the Importation of Goods Mined, Produced, or Manufactured with Forced Labor in the People's Republic of China and the Federal Register Notice on the Addition of Entities to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List. Here's the complete list of companies who have not taken steps in agreement with the Call to Action to End Uyghur Forced Labor: Abercrombie & Fitch (Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister Co., Ruehl No. The Save Uyghur Campaign would like to recognize BBC News for the release of The, Who Are the Uyghurs and Why Is China Being Accused of Genocide? BBC News, 21, Background Date of Birth: January 6th, 1987 National Identification Number: 652924198701060014 Chinese Official Name: Alimu, General contact / Media queries info@justiceforall.org, 27 E. Monroe St. #700, Chicago IL 60603, USA, , from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, reveals a vast network of companies complicit in the mass detention of Uyghurs and other Turkic people. A number of previous reports have implicated these companies in the past for example, Luxshare and Lens Technology were both linked to forced labor in bombshell reports from The Information and The Washington Post, although those reports pertained to Apples questionable history of suppliers. I am a journalist writing about China manufacturing and trade. An official website of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Democrats and Republicans did something remarkable this week: They agreed on something. The complexity and opacity of supply chains in China will complicate the due diligence process, as some products and materials made with forced labor in Xinjiang are repurposed in intermediary factories elsewhere in China, obscuring their origin. Withhold Release Orders and Findings List, Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act, Best Practices for Applicability Reviews: Importer Responsibilities, Guidance on Executive Summaries and Sample Tables of Contents, https://www.cbp.gov/trade/forced-labor/UFLPA, Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA). Thus far, the U.S. government has deployed Withhold Release Orders (WROs), export control restrictions pursuant to the Entity List, and sanctions designations under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which have targeted several large Chinese companies including the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), as well as categories of products. For more information, visitwww.bis.doc.gov. Amazons suppliers are responsible for making Amazon-branded products, such as the Echo, Fire TV, Kindle, the wide range of affordable products sold as part of its Amazon Basics line, and more. The level of evidence remains to be clarified by CBP. Please note that this notice may serve as an aggravating factor should CBP take enforcement action upon determining future violations of the Act. Any dollar that goes to these brands is a dollar that goes into the factories profiting off of Uyghur forced labor. This report estimates that more than 80,000 Uyghurs were transferred out of Xinjiang to work in factories across China between 2017 and 2019, and some of them were sent directly from detention camps, a summary of the report said. In the last fiscal year, 835 companies were found . In March 2020, a damning report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute revealed that the Chinese government was forcing hundreds of young Uyghur women to. Apple and Amazon arent the only US-based companies with ties to Xinjiang and forced labor, either. Nov. 17, 201801:48. The laws rebuttable presumption means companies whose supply chains touch Xinjiangor utilize Xinjiang-exported laborwill have to demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that their products are free of forced labor. The UFLPA mandates a review and strategy-development process expected to result in the identification of additional parties whose products will be presumed to derive from forced labor and banned from import. The entities to be added to the Entity List in connection with participating in the practice of, accepting, or utilizing forced labor involving Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups in the XUAR are: Hoshine Silicon Industry (Shanshan) Co., Ltd. Xinjiang Daqo New Energy Co., Ltd. Xinjiang East Hope Nonferrous Metals Co., Ltd. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Numerous sources, including government documents, show that transferred workers are assigned minders and have limited freedom of movement.. Please note that if you do not receive a letter from CBP, this does not mean that your supply chain is free of forced labor. 2023 Vox Media, LLC. ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. Many consumers are now boycotting Primark, but the brand is still expanding. On the Red Carpet at the 2022 Met Gala . Meta backs new tool for removing sexual images of minors posted online, Mark Zuckerberg says Meta now has a team building AI tools and personas, Whoops! We invited Apple, Esprit, and Fila to respond; they did not. CBP issued a Withhold Release Order (WRO) against cotton products and tomato products produced in Xinjiang based on information that reasonably indicates the use of detainee or prison . You may opt-out by. The companies that broker this Uighur labor advertise that the workers are used to working in adversity, that they will stay the length of the contract. Stop sourcing from Qingdao Taekwang immediately. These categories appear likely to include additional manufacturers and intermediate supply chain participants outside of the XUAR. U.S. remote-control maker Universal Electronics Inc told Reuters it struck a deal with authorities in Xinjiang to transport hundreds of Uyghur workers to its plant in the southern Chinese city of . Lenovo also pointed to a 2018 audit by the Reliable Business Alliance in which OFILM scored very well. In January, the Trump administration said China was committed genocide against the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang.. On December 23, 2021, President Biden signed into law the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) to prevent goods made with forced labor in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of China from entering the U.S. market. Apple spokesman Josh Rosenstock said the company has confirmed that Lens Technology has not received any labor transfers of Uighur workers from Xinjiang. Yili Zhuowan Garment Manufacturing Co., Ltd. For further inquiries, please contact the UFLPA Entity List Team atFLETF.UFLPA.EntityList@hq.dhs.gov. / Sign up for Verge Deals to get deals on products we've tested sent to your inbox daily. The Act establishes a rebuttable presumption that the importation of any goods, wares, articles, and merchandise mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the Peoples Republic of China, or produced by an entity on a list required by clause (i), (ii), (iv) or (v) of section 2(d)(2)(B) of the Act, is prohibited by Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 and that such goods, wares, articles, and merchandise are not entitled to entry to the United States. Importers of record will have a path to overcome that rebuttable presumption by showing that the items are not mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part by forced labor and demonstrating other elements of compliance. Retail giants Nike and H&M are facing a backlash in China after they expressed concern about the alleged use of Uighur forced labour in cotton production. The report did not document factories using Uyghur labor. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Coca-Cola and Nike both pushed back on the NYT report in statements to the Daily Caller, arguing that they did not lobby against the Uyghur Forced Labor Protection Act or source products from Xinjiang. The tech industry at large relies on suppliers in China, and The Information reports that these companies have also worked with Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Facebook, among others. The law places the burden of proof on companies to demonstrate that any imports mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Regionor involving entities exporting labor from Xinjiangwere not made using forced labor. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. Written by USCIRF Commissioner Nury Turkel. Effective June 21, 2022, in an effort to address forced labor concerns, U.S. law will broadly prohibit imports of products from Chinas Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), along with additional companies determined to be related to supply from that region. Whenever we find or receive proof of forced labor, we take action.. Coca-Cola, Nike, Apple, and other corporationsfought to weakenthe bills language, theNew York Timesreported in late November, arguing that the bill would harm the supply chains they rely on in China. These parties can include companies outside of the XUAR. The factory, Haoyuanpeng Clothing Manufacturing Co. Ltd, lists Fila, Adidas, Puma and Nike among its clients. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. Amazon is allegedly employing suppliers in China with links to forced labor, according to a report from the Tech Transparency Project (TTP), a research group owned by the nonprofit watchdog organization Campaign for Accountability (via NBC News). The UFLPA also requires the interagency Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force, chaired by the Secretary of Homeland Security, and in consultation with the Secretary of Commerce and Director of National Intelligence, to develop and submit to Congress a strategy for supporting CBPs enforcement of Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 with respect to goods, wares, articles, and merchandise produced with forced labor in the Peoples Republic of China. Activists have launched a campaign accusing firms of . The UFLPA will replace the existing case-by-case implementation of WROs on companies operating in and product categories from the XUAR with a broad U.S. import ban and rebuttable presumption of the involvement of forced or otherwise prohibited labor. These workers were . Primark has been involved in child labor and modern slavery scandals before. Amazon complies with the laws and regulations in all jurisdictions in which it operates, and expects suppliers to adhere to our Supply Chain Standards, Amazon spokesperson Erika Reynoso said in a statement to The Verge. The TTP found that three Amazon suppliers Luxshare Precision Industry, AcBel Polytech, and Lens Technology have reportedly used forced labor themselves. He said Apple earlier this year ensured that none of its other suppliers are using Uighur labor transferred from Xinjiang. Major international clothing brands like L.L. Persons wishing to import affected products to the United States will need to supply evidence demonstrating that those products were not made with forced labor, and meet pending compliance standards. The rebuttable presumption goes into effect on June 21, 2022. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
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