Koen Stoop and Helene de Rengerve wrote that the mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence laws and the forced labor ban proposed by the European Commission are two powerful tools that need to be effectively implemented to successfully solve the Uyghur forced labor problem.
Koen Stoop is the EU Policy Coordinator of the World Uyghur Congress; Helene de Rengerve is the EU Policy Advisor of the International Anti-Slavery Organization.
The EU leaders outlined their ambitions to establish the EU as a global leader.
The EU’s High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Josep Borrell stated that the EU Can’t be a bystander in the world, And in her yearly State of the Union Address, Ursula von der Lein, President of the European Commission, delivered an ambitious message, that is, a resilient Europe “based on values and act boldly”.
The EU has a real opportunity to respond to China’s persecution of Uyghurs by taking a strong stand, thereby turning its ambitions into reality.
The Chinese government has detained more than 1 million Uighurs and other Turkic Muslim majority in concentration camps. Forced labor designated by human rights and legal experts as crimes against humanity and genocide is an important part of China’s persecution system.
Many EU companies, such as Zara and SMCPAllegedly, because of China’s dominant position in the global supply chain, they directly or indirectly profit from such forced labor. In addition to fashion, EU companies in solar, automotive, electronics and other industries are all implicated.
The EU has an important opportunity to demonstrate its global leadership in how to solve the supply chain collusion problem in Uyghur forced labor and other corporate infringements around the world through the following two ways:
- The Sustainable Corporate Governance (SCG) directives and legislation will force companies headquartered in the EU market or operating in the EU market to conduct due diligence to resolve human rights violations and environmental issues.
- A new debate on the establishment of an instrument prohibiting products produced by forced labor has just begun.
Human rights organizations around the world applaud von der Leyen announced the introduction of a forced labor ban, but now is the time to make the declaration a reality and allow the EU to step up its actions.
As a member End the Uyghur Region Forced Labor AllianceWe recently wrote to Von der Lein and other EU officials, urging European officials to design SCG documents and forced labor ban proposals with the greatest ambitions so as to be effective against Uyghur forced labor.
We call on the EU to put Uyghurs and other workers and victims at the center of the law.
The mHREDD obligation must force the company to address and respect the rights of workers at the beginning of the supply chain, whether they are in a cotton field in the Uyghur region or a coffee farm in Brazil. When companies fail to take meaningful action and prevent abuse in their supply chain, they must take responsibility.
The forced labor prohibition instrument must prevent forced labor products from even entering the shelves of EU stores, and must ensure that victims of abuse can be remedied and compensated.
It is important that the EU gives priority to each initiative equally.Mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence and instruments prohibiting forced labor Not interchangeable Policy guidelines.
Mixing these two proposals will only weaken the two’s ability to solve the pervasive forced labor problem in the EU’s supply chain. Hearing that DG-Trade is considering dumping the forced labor ban proposal into the SCG initiative, we are concerned that this strategy may cause the EU to rush to pass a deliberate plan on forced labor ban.
These two laws can only function properly if transparency in the supply chain is mandatory. Currently, it is difficult to know whether a particular EU company is profiting from Uyghur forced labor.
We require companies to map and publish their supply chains so that EU authorities and civil society can hold companies accountable when they profit from forced labor.
The EU is at a crossroads. It can choose to become a global leader in sustainability and human rights, or it can fail to meet the expectations it creates. The EU needs to ensure that these measures do not succumb to internal politics or the economic interests of multinational corporations.
In her State of the Union address, Von der Lein stated that “human rights are not for sale-at any cost”, but the EU must take action to make this reality a reality. It must adopt the highest international standards to fulfill its commitment to global leadership, bring some justice to the global Uyghur community, and protect victims of corporate infringements around the world.
Now is the time for the EU to take action to stop the abuse of the Uyghur people.
