The White House said President Joe Biden signed a bill on Thursday (12/23) to become law banning the importation of goods produced by forced Uyghur labor.
The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Law, which Congress passed at the end of last week after a year of negotiations, bans all imports from China’s Xinjiang region into the Americas unless companies can prove “clear and compelling evidence” that their supply chains do not use ethnic Muslim labor. Uyghurs enslaved in Chinese camps.
China describes the camps as “re-education” facilities to fight terrorism.
The new impetus to hold China accountable for human rights violations comes ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics in February 2022.
Earlier this year, the United States called China’s actions against the Uyghur Muslim minority genocide and announced a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing last week.
Earlier this month, an independent tribunal ruled that top Chinese leaders were “fully responsible” for acts of genocide against the Uyghurs.
China sharply criticized the bill and called America a hypocrite for not dealing with the forced labor that takes place on its own territory.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a press conference last week, “China strongly opposes US congressional interference in China’s internal affairs under the pretext of of problems related to Xinjiang. By fabricating lies and creating unrest on such issues, some US politicians are trying to put pressure on China and restrain China’s progress through political manipulation and economic intimidation in the name of human rights. “
Human rights groups praised the law and said it was an important starting point for countries around the world to fight China’s treatment of Uyghurs . “It’s a signal to the rest of the world that America is really going to take action on this,” Peter Irwin, senior communications and advocacy program manager at the Uyghur Human Rights Project, told VOA.
He added: “It could also be a model for other governments to take similar action and say we will pass our own forced labor laws, for example when America stops allowing forced labor and then stops them. Chinese leaders will divert their exports to other countries in Europe or Canada. So this new law is a framework for other governments to pass and pass this kind of bill, which will help America. diplomatic boycott America is first, and other countries will follow. [em/jm]
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