Cotton: China

(asked on 16th July 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what plans she has to ban imports of Xinjiang cotton made using Uighur Muslim forced labour.


Answered by
Ranil Jayawardena Portrait
Ranil Jayawardena
This question was answered on 28th July 2020

HM Government have serious concerns about the human rights situation in Xinjiang, with credible reports of the use of forced labour. It has always been the case that, where we have concerns, we raise them, as we did on this issue at the UN Human Rights Council in March. We will continue to monitor the situation closely.

HM Government is committed to eliminating modern slavery. The Modern Slavery Act 2015 made Britain the first country in the world to require businesses to report on how they are tackling modern slavery, including forced labour, in their operations and supply chains. Section 54 of the Act was designed to empower consumers, investors, civil society and others to scrutinise the action that businesses are taking to identify and address modern slavery in their operations and supply chains.

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