Story at a glance
- The U.S. Senate passed legislation on Wednesday banning the import of products from China’s Xinjiang region.
- The legislation is a new attempt to penalize the country for the ongoing Uyghur genocide.
- For years, China has been accused of detaining Uyghur Muslims in internment camps where they are reportedly subjected to beatings, forced labor and even the forcible sterilization of women.
The U.S. Senate passed legislation on Wednesday banning the import of products from China’s Xinjiang region in a new attempt to penalize the country for the ongoing Uyghur genocide.
Known as the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, the legislation enacts a “rebuttable presumption” that any products manufactured in Xinjiang were most likely done so via forced labor, which is illegal under the Tariff Act of 1930.
For years, China has been accused of detaining Uyghur Muslims in internment camps where they are reportedly subjected to beatings, forced labor and even the forcible sterilization of women.
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The legislation was brought forward by Republican Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley (Ore.) and passed unanimously.
“No American corporation should profit from these abuses. No American consumers should be inadvertently purchasing products from slave labor,” Merkley said, according to The Guardian.
The legislation is now moving to the House of Representatives where it must be passed before going on to President Biden to be signed into law.
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