On June 10th, the Italian subsidiary “Manufactures Dior Srl” of the French luxury brand Dior was placed under compulsory administration by the Milan court for a year. The reason behind this decision was that the company had subcontracted some work to Chinese contractors involved in forced labor. The court found Dior negligent in supervising and investigating the working conditions and treatment of employees at these subcontractors.
This incident follows similar cases with well-known fashion brands like Alviero Martini and Armani, whose subsidiaries were also placed under compulsory administration by the Milan court in January and April for the same reasons.
According to Reuters, the Milan prosecutor’s office is investigating whether over a dozen fashion brands have links to forced labor in their supply chains. In December last year, Sheffield Hallam University in the UK published a report commissioned by the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament titled “Tracing Clothing Supply Chains from the Uighur Region to Europe,” providing further evidence of the connection between prominent European fashion brands and forced labor in the Uighur region.
These events highlight the increasing trend in the European Union to combat forced labor.
On April 23rd, the European Parliament approved a bill with an overwhelming majority of 555 votes in favor, 6 against, and 45 abstentions, to ban the sale, import, and export of goods produced using forced labor in the EU market.
The bill aims to eliminate forced labor from the European market by allowing member states to remove products found to be manufactured with forced labor as well as products made with materials using forced labor from foreign countries within the EU. For products deemed risky, importers will be required to provide detailed information on manufacturers. In cases of suspicion regarding supply chains outside the EU, the European Commission can launch investigations, and if forced labor is confirmed, products will be seized at the borders and removed from the EU market and online retailers, with violators facing fines, among other measures. (The bill is awaiting final formal approval by the European Council, and EU countries will have a three-year grace period to implement its provisions.)
While the bill does not explicitly mention China, it is seen as targeted at the country.
On June 11th, the US Department of Homeland Security announced that three seafood, aluminum, and footwear companies in China were added to the Entity List under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), prohibiting the entry of goods produced by these entities into the US.
Since the UFLPA became law in December 2021, the US Task Force on Forced Labor Enforcement (FLETF) has added 68 entities to the UFLPA Entity List. Just in the past 12 months, the Entity List has grown by 240%. These entities cover various sectors such as agriculture, clothing, batteries, chemicals, electronics, food additives, household appliances, non-ferrous metals, polysilicon, and plastics. Since the implementation of the UFLPA by US Customs and Border Protection on June 21, 2022, they have seized billions of dollars worth of goods related to forced labor and forced Chinese manufacturers involved in forced labor to restructure their business channels.
The US government places a high priority on combating forced labor and has established the multi-agency Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force (FLETF). The FLETF comprises seven member agencies: the Department of Homeland Security (Chair), the Office of the US Trade Representative, the Department of Labor, the Department of State, the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Commerce. Additionally, the Chair has invited observer agencies such as the US Agency for International Development, US Customs and Border Protection, the US Department of Agriculture, the US Department of Energy, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations, and the National Security Council.
The US views the elimination of forced labor as a moral imperative and as a means to address unfair trade practices that undermine the ability of companies to compete fairly in the global economy. The enforcement focus is on goods, products, and commodities originating from Xinjiang, China.
In August 10, 2018, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination stated that the Chinese government had imprisoned one million Uighurs in “large secret internment camps.” In 2020, the US State Department designated China’s treatment of Uighurs as genocide. In 2021, the US enacted the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which stipulates that goods, products, and commodities wholly or partially manufactured or produced in Xinjiang may involve Uighur forced labor and are not allowed to enter the US unless companies importing goods from Xinjiang or China can prove that their products do not involve such labor.
The US efforts to combat forced labor have shown effectiveness as demonstrated by actions taken against companies violating forced labor laws in their supply chains. For instance, in February this year, Volkswagen confirmed that thousands of Porsche, Bentley, and Audi vehicles were seized in US ports due to violations involving Chinese components produced using forced labor.
The US Congress is also actively engaged in addressing forced labor concerns. On May 20, the Senate Finance Committee disclosed findings of an investigation revealing that car manufacturers BMW, Jaguar Land Rover, and Volkswagen used components from a Chinese supplier implicated in forced labor in vehicles exported to the US. On June 5, the US House Special Committee on China wrote to the Department of Homeland Security, requesting that Chinese battery manufacturers Gotion and CATL, be listed in the US importing blacklist for their alleged involvement in the Chinese government’s forced labor program against the Uighurs.
The joint efforts of the US and EU to combat forced labor are clearly aimed at addressing the issue in China. The economic competition between China and the US and Western nations goes beyond anti-dumping, tariffs, or national security considerations and extends to a comprehensive approach. Human rights and labor protection have become a crucial policy in countering China’s economic expansion.
Forced labor, as defined by the International Labour Organization’s Forced Labour Convention (No. 29) of 1930, refers to “all work or service extracted from a person under threat of penalty and not voluntarily undertaken by the person.”
The International Labour Organization’s indicators of forced labor include categories such as deception, restriction of movement, isolation, physical violence, intimidation and threats, retention of identity documents, withholding of wages, bondage, poor working and living conditions, and excessive overtime. In some cases, the presence of just one of these indicators may signify the existence of forced labor; however, in other contexts, several indicators may need to be present to establish forced labor. Overall, these eleven indicators cover the key elements that may be present in cases of forced labor.
On February 27, 2024, the International Labour Organization revised a practical guide for surveys on the prevalence of forced labor titled “Difficult to See, Difficult to Count,” providing an updated set of tools for designing, implementing, and analyzing quantitative surveys of adult forced labor, which includes the concept of “State-Mandated Labor.” According to Adrian Zenz, a researcher at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, the term “State-Mandated Labor” aims to describe the invisible and secretive nature of the state-led transfer of Uighur and Tibetan forced labor. This transfer operates without detention but through the deep involvement of government work teams in villages, coercing grassroots target groups.
It is important to note that forced labor in China extends far beyond Xinjiang and is prevalent, widespread, and systemic nationwide, including forced labor in prisons. The international community’s awareness of this issue remains limited.
This article was originally published by Dajiyuan.