UK MPs urge govt to 'toughen' laws against use of forced Uyghur labour in China's Xinjiang

Some British firms could be complicit in the use of forced labour in China’s Xinjiang region, a report by UK MPs said. The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee said that there was a lack of transparency in supply chains of UK firms and failures in government and the British members of the parliament said that companies especially dealing in fashion, retail, media and technology could all be implicated. 

The MPs also called for the firms to be subjected to a fine and blacklist those that failed to change considering the atrocities reportedly faced by Muslim ethnic minority in China’s western region of Xinjiang. Hence, the committee called for the government to “toughen anti-modern slavery requirements for businesses and develop new measures compelling companies to ensure forced labour plays no part in their supply chain.”

Chinese ethnic minorities including Uyghur Muslims have been detained in the Asian country’s remote region since 2017 and according to the UN, there are one million Muslims in the ‘camps’. Several activists have claimed that several human rights violations are taking place in Xinjiang. However, China has condemned the allegations and claims that the camps in the area are set up to provide ‘vocational training’ to tackle extremism. 

The BEIS committee said it was appalled as companies still cannot assure that their supply chains are functional without any forced labour. The MPs have jointly also said that the companies that still cannot prove that they do not have links with Xinjiang should face sanctions by the UK government. The BEIS report also recommends the British government accelerating the proposal to amend and strengthen the Modern Slavery Act 2015. 

The report further suggested the government develop a policy framework for creating a whitelist and blacklist of UK firms on the basis of their meeting or violating the obligations of upholding human rights throughout the respective supply chains. 

These findings on British firms not giving a clear answer over the use of forced labour in production came as some senior Conservative MPs attacked UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson for failing to adopt a more stringent stance against China in his Integrated review of security, defence, development and foreign policy that was published on Tuesday.

Conservative MP calls it ‘deeply concerning’

In the hard-hitting report,  Conservative MP for Wealden and lead BEIS Committee member for the Forced labour in UK value chains inquiry Nusrat Ghani called it “deeply concerning”. In a statement on March 17, the Conservative MP said, “It is deeply concerning that companies selling to millions of British customers cannot guarantee that their supply chains are free from forced labour. Modern slavery legislation and BEIS Department policy are not fit for purpose in tackling this grave situation.”

“The Government must act to strengthen the Modern Slavery Act, introduce a tougher business policy framework, and examine the use of targeted sanctions to ensure every effort is made to stamp out profiteering from these abuses,” she added.