CNA Staff, Sep 23, 2020 / 23:48 pm
The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a bill to ensure goods sold in the U.S. are not made with forced labor in Uyghur Muslim internment camps in China's Xinjiang region.
The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act passed the House on Sept. 22 by a vote of 406-3.
The legislation would treat all goods imported from China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region as being created with forced labor, unless certified otherwise by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. It would also require disclosures from businesses that engage with Chinese companies and would authorize sanctions on anyone determined to be responsible for labor trafficking of Uyghurs.
The bill would instruct the Secretary of State to determine whether the treatment of Uyghurs inside the internment camps constitutes genocide or other crimes against humanity, and to create a plan of response.