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US bans entry of Esquel Group products over Uyghur labor allegations

Umito November 1, 2024

A pro-Uyghur activist wears a mask displaying the East Turkestan flag during a rally against the Chinese communist government in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019. The flag is commonly used to protest the genocide of the Uyghur people by the China. The Biden administration on Thursday banned several companies from importing products into the United States over allegations that they used forced labor from Uyghurs. File photo by Keizo Mori/UPI | License photo

Oct. 31 (UPI) — The United States announced import bans Thursday on products made by Hong Kong-based Esquel Group, one of the world’s largest textile and apparel companies, along with a handful of related companies, on allegations of use of Uyghur forced labor.

The company, along with Guangdong Esquel Textile, Turpan Esquel Textile and Changji Esquel Textile, were added to the Department of Homeland Security’s Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List due to allegations of use of cotton from the Xinjiang autonomous region in China.

Changji Esquel Textile was moved to this list, but had previously been banned under a separate but similar UFLPA rule that denied entry into the United States of products made entirely or in part with Uyghur forced labor.

The ban comes into effect on Friday.

“We are uncompromising in removing forced labor from U.S. supply chains,” said Undersecretary for Policy Robert Silvers, who chairs the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force. a declaration.

The UFLPA was signed into law in December 2021 and has since seen 78 companies added to the Entity List.

Esquel Group, a former Nike supplier, has previously opposed allegations of the use of Uyghur forced labor.

When Changji Esquel Textile was first banned in 2022, Esquel Group issued a declaration rejecting the allegations, saying they “morally object to the use of forced labor” and that they follow all international standards for their products.

UPI has contacted Esquel Group for comment.

China’s human rights abuses, particularly against its Uighur Muslim minority in the northwestern Xinjiang region, have deepened the rift between Washington and Beijing.

The United States has accused China of genocide over its treatment of Uyghurs, more than a million of whom are believed to have been held in concentration camps in Xinjiang since 2017.

There, the United States maintains that Uyghurs are forced to work in textiles, clothing, agriculture, consumer goods, electronics and other labor-intensive industries. -work. Uyghurs who refuse are punished with detention and other measures.

They are also arbitrarily imprisoned and subjected to forced sterilization, torture and labor, as well as draconian restrictions on freedom of religion, expression and movement.

China has repeatedly denied the allegations, saying the camps were intended for the purposes of re-education and eradication of terrorism.

The United States last added names to its entity list over allegations of Uyghur forced labor early last month, when it’s forbidden products from Chinese steel company Baowu Group Xinjiang Bayi Iron and Steel and artificial sweetener company Changzhou Guanghui Food Ingredients.