WASHINGTON – The US Department of Labor (DOL) has published its biennial list of goods which it believes to be produced by child or forced labour, and the US labour secretary Eugene Scalia has said: “China by a wide margin has more goods made with forced labor than any other country”.
Scalia’s words relate predominantly to activities in the Xinjiang region, where persistent reports suggest upwards of 1.8 million Uyghur Muslims are being held and forced to manufacture products for industries including fashion.
With the DOL’s list this year identifying 155 products, more than 20 more than in 2018, activists have warned that the Xinjiang Aid scheme – reportedly ran by the Chinese government, which deploys Uyghur workers within nationwide supply chains – could complicate matters as the United States clamps down on imports from the country.
