Credible evidence of mass internments, forced labour and other atrocities against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang provide an urgent case for action by the Australian Government to ensure businesses are not profiting from these abuses, the Human Rights Law Centre said this week in a report to a parliamentary committee.

“There is mounting evidence that products made with state-sponsored forced labour by Uyghurs in China are ending up in Australian supply chains. The scale of the abuses alleged and the number of products involved means it is almost inevitable that Australian businesses, particularly in the garment sector, are implicated,” said Freya Dinshaw, a Senior Lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre.

Dinshaw added however that the Customs Amendment (Banning Goods Produced by Uyghur Forced Labour) Bill 2020, the subject of the inquiry by the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee, should be broadened to target all goods made with forced labour.

“While the evidence of atrocities against Uyghurs in Xinjiang is horrific, it is unfortunately not unique. There are 25 million people trapped in situations of forced labour globally, and almost two-thirds of them are in our region. Each of these people is being abused, whether they are trapped on a Thai fishing vessel or in bonded labour in an Indian factory. Our response should target the crime, not the country.”

Dinshaw said that countries like the US and Canada had already implemented a broad-based imports ban on forced labour and Australia should do the same.

“The US system enables confiscation of goods where investigations reveal reasonable evidence of forced labour – such as with cotton and tomatoes from Xinjiang – and pushes the onus back onto importers to show their goods are slavery-free. And it works. We’ve seen significant pressure pushed back on suppliers to lift their game.”

The Human Rights Law Centre has also called on the Federal Government to:

• Establish a special investigations unit within Australian Border Force to enforce the ban

• Strengthen Australia’s existing modern slavery laws through the addition of penalties for non-compliance and an independent anti-slavery commissioner; and

• Require Australian companies sourcing from high-risk locations like Xinjiang to undertake human rights due diligence to ensure they are not profiting from abuse.

Read the Human Rights Law Centre’s submission to the Inquiry into the Customs Amendment (Banning Goods Produced By Uyghur Forced Labour) Bill 2020 here.

Contact: Michelle Bennett,
Public Engagement Director,
0419 100 519