Jewish World Watch celebrates the bold leadership shown by the United States as President Joe Biden signed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) into law today. The bill received unanimous bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress.
The new law ensures that goods made with the Uyghur and other slave labor in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) do not enter the U.S. market by requiring companies who have failed to heed warnings to cease business operations in Xinjiang. The law places the burden of proof on businesses to show goods are forced-labor free, rather than relying on Customs and Border Protection to make this determination. The UFLPA sets the new international gold standard in forced labor prevention.
“Today marks an historic day in American international leadership on human rights,” said Serena Oberstein, Executive Director of Jewish World Watch. “The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act serves as a global example that we must stand up to authoritarian regimes and put people over profit.”
Jewish World Watch commends Sen. Marco Rubio, Sen. Jeff Merkley and Rep. Jim McGovern for their unwavering leadership in seeing this bill through to law.
The UFLPA will work to clean the supply chains of hundreds of American and multinational corporations using Uyghur slave labor. Their business decisions will no longer force unwitting consumers to participate in the ongoing genocide and persecution of the Uyghur people by the People’s Republic of China.
Jewish World Watch will continue its work to ensure the United States carries the law out to its fullest extent.