Dominic Raab, First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs will walk in Downing Street in London, England, on September 3, 2019.
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LONDON – The UK has taken new measures to eradicate the presence of alleged forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region from UK supply chains.
China is accused of extrajudicially detaining more than 1 million Uyghur Muslims and other minorities in political re-education camps in the Northwest Autonomous Region, along with invasive surveillance, restrictions on Uyghur culture and the use of forced labor.
China firmly denies the charges, claiming that the centers are aimed at fighting extremism and encouraging the development of professional skills.
Companies with annual revenues in excess of £ 36 million ($ 49.2 million) that do not demonstrate enough diligence to ensure their supply chains are free from forced labor under the Modern Slavery Act will now face fines, the British Foreign Secretary said Dominic Raab. Tuesday in the House of Commons.
“We need to ensure that British companies are not part of the supply chains leading to the gates of the internment camps in Xinjiang, and that the products of human rights violations that take place in those camps do not end up on the supermarket shelves where we shop here at home. , week after week, ”said Raab.
The government will also initiate an urgent review of export controls to prevent exports that could contribute to human rights violations, provide new guidelines for companies operating in the region, and extend the Modern Slavery Act to the public sector, with the exception of companies that have been shown to have forced labor ties from government contracts.
‘Really horrible’
Raab claimed the evidence is now “far-reaching” and “paints a truly poignant picture” by accusing China of “internment camps, arbitrary detention, political re-education, forced labor, torture and forced sterilization, all on an industrial scale.”
“It’s truly horrifying – the barbarism we hoped for was lost in another era practiced today as we speak to one of the leading members of the international community,” he added.
Raab cited first-hand reports from diplomats and escapees, satellite images of internment camp factories and the destruction of mosques, and third-party reports from the UN Human Rights Commission, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in London did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Raab stressed that China’s refusal to grant access to a UN human rights commissioner or other credible outside authority was inconsistent with these claims.
“China cannot simply deny all access to those trusted third parties who can verify the facts, while maintaining a credible denial,” he added.
A protester outside the White House is urging the United States to take action to end the oppression of the Uyghurs and other Turkish peoples on August 14, 2020 in Washington DC.
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Raab’s measures stopped punishing individual Chinese officials for their involvement in the alleged atrocities, and Labour’s shadow secretary for Foreign Affairs, Lisa Nandy, claimed her counterpart had not gone far enough, comparing Raab’s actions to “tinkering at the edges”. .
The presence of forced labor in international supply chains has been targeted by a number of major governments in recent years. In late 2020, several US companies came under fire for lobbying to weaken a bipartisan law banning imports from Xinjiang.
“Some US politicians have fabricated disinformation about so-called ‘forced labor’ to restrict and suppress relevant parties and businesses in China, and to curb China’s development,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying told December. CNBC.
“All ethnic groups in Xinjiang choose their profession based on their own will and sign ’employment contracts’ of their own volition in accordance with equality law.”