UHRP praises further Congressional action against Uyghur forced labor

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For immediate release
October 1, 2020 9:07am EDT
Uyghur Human Rights Project
Contact: Omer Kanat +1 (202) 790-1795, Peter Irwin +1 (646) 906-7722

The Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) expresses its appreciation for further Congressional action to combat Uyghur forced labor by passing the Uyghur Forced Labor Disclosure Act (H.R. 6270) in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The bill, which passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, would require U.S. publicly listed companies to review and actively audit supply chains for forced labor, and directs the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to require publicly traded companies to annually disclose imports of manufactured goods and materials that originate, or are sourced, from forced labor in the Uyghur Region.

UHRP Executive Director Omer Kanat said: “The bill illustrates that effectively combating Uyghur forced labor will inevitably require genuine engagement from American companies. If the companies themselves refuse to act, it’s up to our government to compel them to do so.”

The bill’s passage in the House follows last week’s passage of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (H.R. 6210), the first piece of national legislation anywhere in the world enforcing human-rights standards to end the import of goods made with Uyghur forced labor.

Rep. Wexton said: “My bill along with Chairman McGovern’s bill, H.R. 6210, which passed overwhelmingly last week, sends a strong message that the United States economy and the financial system will not tolerate human rights abuses.”

In July, UHRP and 280+ organizations called on fashion brands to end complicity and exit the Uyghur Region, forming the Coalition to End Uyghur Forced Labour in China to campaign for an end to forced labor and other atrocity crimes against the Uyghur people.

Preventing importation of forced labor products is a critical tool for policymakers globally, to counter China’s genocidal repression of the Uyghur people, including extra-legal mass detention, forced political indoctrination, forced factory labor, prevention of births, and the destruction of Uyghur mosques, cemeteries and neighborhoods across East Turkistan.