The US Department of Commerce said the . 1307) are not entitled to entry at any of the ports of the United States. We will continue doing all we can to protect workers and ensure they are treated with dignity and respect, the spokesperson said. The report accuses Amazon of continuing to work with these suppliers, despite evidence of their association with Uyghur labor camps. The report did not document factories using Uyghur labor. DHSs New Criminal Enforcement Initiative to Prosecute Corporations for Forced Labor, Slavery in Supply Chains: CBP Petitions Raise New Forced Labor Compliance Risks, Recent DOJ Action Creates Uncertainty for Information-Sharing Programs, NLRB Invalidates Common Confidentiality and Non-Disparagement Clauses in Severance Agreements, U.S. Attorneys Offices Adopt New Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy, Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA). CBP guidance for XUAR WROs, and standards like the ILO Indicators of Forced Labor can provide reference points. Primark has been involved in child labor and modern slavery scandals before. Workers can be jailed for refusing to join the work programs, the report says, and those enrolled in the programs are often moved far from their homes. The enforcement strategy, and how much companies will need to do to satisfy the law, remains to be seen. A number of companies and brands have been linked to labor forced on Uighur Muslims by the Chinese government, according to multiple reports. At least 570,000 Uighur Muslims are being forced to work in Chinese cotton fields that produce one-fifth of the world's supply, a new report says. Task Force Strategy Report and Potential for Additional Parties Subject to Prohibitions Some companies have even advertised their ability to supply Uighur workers through online bookings. Best practices for compliance and supply chain due diligence still are evolving. Two top congressional Democrats, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., urged players to drop endorsement deals with Chinese sportswear companies that use cotton from Xinjiang . He said Apple earlier this year ensured that none of its other suppliers are using Uighur labor transferred from Xinjiang. report from the Tech Transparency Project, including internment camps, constant surveillance, mass sterilization, and forced labor, Tesla faced criticism for opening a showroom in the Xinjiang region, Mark Zuckerberg says Meta now has a team building AI tools and personas, Whoops! Between January 22, 2022, and June 21, 2022, the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force established under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement Implementation Act, in consultation with the Secretary of Commerce and the Director of National Intelligence, will undertake a process that will result in a strategy for supporting enforcement of Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. Bean, Hugo Boss and Uniqlo are now determining how to root out abuse from their supply chains a challenge given how much . All work must be voluntary, and workers must be free to leave work and terminate their employment or other work status with reasonable notice.. The UFLPA now would effectively apply the presumption of forced labor to all goods made in the XUAR without the need for CBP to issue WROs. Dont accept innocent lives being taken from us., Nike has a long history of standing against bigotry, hatred and inequality in all forms, a Nike spokeswoman said in a May statement. Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited Abercrombie & Fitch, adidas, Amazon, BMW, Gap, H&M, Inditex, Marks & Spencer, Nike, North Face, Puma, PVH, Samsung and UNIQLO to respond; their responses are provided. 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. 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. 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. 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. Call To House Republicans On Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Middleman Investigation. Stop sourcing from Qingdao Taekwang immediately. The UFLPA includes a process for importers to show via clear and convincing evidence that an imported item from the XUAR or linked to additional listed entities was not mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part by forced labor. In addition to providing such evidence, Section 3(b) of the UFLPA requires (A) compliance with forthcoming guidance under Section 2(d)(6) on due diligence, effective supply chain tracing, and supply chain management measures to ensure that such importers do not import any goods mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part with forced labor from the Peoples Republic of China, especially from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region; and (B) cooperation with CBP in completely and substantively answering inquiries and information requests. The list of well-recognized names includes Apple, Nike, Amazon, Samsung, Zara, H&M, Microsoft, Mercedes-Benz, Uniqlo, and more. SHARE. He said Apple earlier this year ensured . (See here.) 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. In the last fiscal year, 835 companies were found . Most companies will require advance planning to assess the risks posed by the UFLPA and develop the compliance and due diligence mechanisms that will be needed to monitor supply chains and commercial partners. Apple, which has saidthat it is committed to donating to organizations that challenge racial injustice and mass incarceration, is not the only company to come under scrutiny for its links to slave labor. We call for an immediate end to these violations and pledge to work collaboratively with governments, civil society, unions, and multilateral organizations to achieve this goal., @Nike Shameful that an American brand like yours benefit from the labor of the Uyghurs. Many consumers are now boycotting Primark, but the brand is still expanding. An official website of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The list of 83 companies includes over 30 technology brands "directly or indirectly benefiting" from using Uighur workers a veritable who's who of consumer electronics, such as Acer,. Some Uighurs have allegedly been placed in these factories straight from the internment camps in Xinjiang, where experts estimate more than 1.5 million members of ethnic minorities are being held. Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State June 21, 2022 Starting today, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will begin to implement the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act's provisions to prohibit imports made by forced labor into the United States of products made in Xinjiang. The Act requires CBP to apply the rebuttable presumption unless the importer can overcome the presumption of forced labor by establishing, by clear and convincing evidence, that the good, ware, article, or merchandise was not mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part by forced labor. The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) was signed into law by President Biden on December 23, 2021. I am a journalist writing about China manufacturing and trade. Photo Uyghur Muslims by the Uyghur Human Rights Project. 2023 Vox Media, LLC. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Some brands including Adidas, Bosch and Panasonic told ASPI they had no direct contractual relationships with the suppliers indicated in the report, but no one could rule out a link further down their supply chain. Most fashion brands can't promise their products aren't implicated, with concern spreading from fast-fashion and sportswear giants to major luxury groups. Under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which comes into effect on June 21, President Joe Biden's administration assumes anything made even partially in Xinjiang is produced with forced . However, existing CBP guidance for WROs indicates a demanding standard for documentation and tracing. Any dollar that goes to these brands is a dollar that goes into the factories profiting off of Uyghur forced labor. The year 2021 brought supply chain challenges to the center of the national conversation. We call for an immediate end to these violations and pledge to work collaboratively with governments, civil society, unions, and multilateral organizations to achieve this goal.. However, a vast majority of implicated brands and companies have not taken any steps to address their ties to Uyghur forced labor. Save Uyghur Statement on the Xinjiang Police Files and The Faces from Chinas Uyghur Detention Camp, HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP DISMAYED AT IMAMS VISIT TO CHINA, FEARING IT IS BEING USED TO FURTHER PROPAGANDA ABOUT STATE OF UYGHURS, Justice For Alls Save Uyghur Campaign Calls on Assistant Secretary Noyes to Get Uyghurs Released from Thailand, Community Alert For Uyghurs: China Relentlessly Targeting You for its Surveillance Campaign. 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 Tech Transparency Projectsaid a glass supplier was using forced labor in December; Apple said it had seen no evidence of forced labor. Activists have launched a campaign accusing firms of . 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. Read the FLETF'sStrategy to Prevent the Importation of Goods Mined, Produced, or Manufactured with Forced Labor in the Peoples Republic of China. A lock ( Crypto company Gemini is having some trouble with fraud, Some Pixel phones are crashing after playing a certain YouTube video. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. All importers are expected to review their supply chains thoroughly and institute reliable measures to ensure imported goods are not produced wholly or in part with convict labor, forced labor, and/or indentured labor (including forced or indentured child labor). Demand Nike and other listed companies to stop sourcing their products from Uyghur forced labor. (Photo by Anna Fifield/The Washington Post via Getty Images). 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. Almost all global clothing brands are implicated in the use of cotton sourced from Chinese-occupied East Turkestan (Xinjiang) as well. "Apple has zero tolerance for forced labor," Rosenstock said. 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 entities to be added to the Entity List in connection with participating in the practice of, accepting, or utilizing forced labor involvingUyghurs and otherMuslim minority groups in the XUAR are: This Entity List rule supplements other Entity List designations in October 2019, June 2020, and July 2020.
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