Lawmakers pressure EU for full ban on trade of goods made with forced labour
- Resolution will be launched next month calling for tool ‘based on best practices’ of bans in the US and Canada
- It comes amid concerns the European Commission could water down the proposal to outlaw forced labour products
Lawmakers are piling pressure on the European Commission to implement a full ban on the trade of products made using forced labour, amid concerns that bureaucrats could water down plans to outlaw the practice later this year.
A resolution will be launched by influential members of the European Parliament’s trade committee in early June, calling for a tool “based on best practices” of bans on forced labour products in the United States and Canada, as “a political priority of the parliament and the EU as a whole”.
It calls for a total ban on the “import and export of products made or transported by forced labour”, as well as those found within the EU’s single market.
The motion is not aimed directly at China, but names only two instances of alleged forced labour in draft text seen by the South China Morning Post.
Multiple independent reports indicate that as many as 1 million Uygurs and other ethnic Muslims in Xinjiang have been held in detention camps, with many more allegedly subjected to forced labour conditions.