U.S. Senate bill imposes penalties on companies that profit from Uighur labor

WASHINGTON – A bill has been introduced in the U.S. Senate to impose penalties on companies that profit from the slave labor of ethnic Uighur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang Autonomous Region.

The proposed law closes loopholes in the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act of 2021.

In a joint press release, Senators Marco Rubio and Jeff Merkley, who introduced the bill, said it aims to expand existing sanctions and visa bans on Chinese government officials.

They said it would hold these officials accountable for their crimes, such as forced abortions or sterilizations.

The bill would also authorize the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development to assist victims of genocide.

Senator Merkley said that Uighurs and other ethnic groups in Xinjiang are tortured, detained, and forced to work.

They are being pressured by the Chinese government to abandon their religious and cultural practices.

“By building upon current legislation, this bicameral bill aims to enhance the enforcement of secondary sanctions on businesses that offer assistance to the Chinese Communist Party’s ongoing atrocities against the Uyghurs,” Rubio said in the press release.

The bill requires companies to disclose their links to Uighur forced labor to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

It also calls for providing funds for those who have fled the Xinjiang region and countering Chinese propaganda.

The bill must now be considered in the Senate committee before it is put to a vote on the floor.

It will then be sent to the House of Representatives for consideration, where it is sponsored by Chris Smith, a Republican from New Jersey.

In a related development French senators unanimously passed a resolution Thursday calling for a ban on imports linked to Uighur slave labor.

French Senator Mélanie Vogel told Radio Free Asia that the resolution aims to pressure the European Union to take action against China.

Individual EU members do not have the power to unilaterally change their trade policies.

She said an existing EU proposal requires an extensive legal process.

“This resolution is basically asking for the introduction of a very efficient mechanism at the E.U. level that would ban goods made using forced labor,” Vogel said.