On Wednesday, the Senate unanimously approved a bill that would ban all products coming from China’s Xinjiang region. It was passed over accounts of abuse by Uyghur Muslims.
Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio and Oregon Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley introduced the legislation. They said in a statement that “The message is clear to Beijing, as well as any international company that profited from forced labor in Xinjiang: No more.”
Merkley stated : “No American corporation should profit from these abuses. No American consumers should be inadvertently purchasing products from slave labor.”
Xinjiang, home to the Uyghurs (a predominantly Muslim ethnic group), is located in the heart of China.
According to Human Rights Watch, China used mass surveillance in Xinjiang to detain at least 1,000,000 Uyghurs. These places are called “reeducation camps” by Beijing despite numerous reports of human rights abuses.
Former detainees also spoke out about authorities performing abortions on Uyghur females.
According to Human Rights Watch, many Uyghurs have been forced to work as factory workers for very little or no pay.
Next, the Senate’s legislation will be sent to the US House of Representatives.
Rubio said: “We will not turn a blind eye to the CCP’s ongoing crimes against humanity, and we will not allow corporations a free pass to profit from those horrific abuses.
“Once this bill passes the House and is signed by the President, the United States will have more tools to prevent products made with forced labor from entering our nation’s supply chains.”
