Firms linked to Uyghur forced labour face fines – but UK urged to do more
Board of Deputies to hold emergency meeting as Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab says companies linked to persecution of China's Muslim minority community will be penalised
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has said firms linked to the “harrowing” forced labour of China’s persecuted Uyghur Muslims will be hit with huge fines, as Jewish groups said more needed to be done.
Having suffered four years of mass internment – something China calls “re-education” – it was recently revealed that hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs detained in Xinjiang province are being used as slave labour, mainly to pick cotton.
Raab said China’s persecution included “internment camps, arbitrary detention, political re-education, forced labour, torture, and forced sterilisation, all on an industrial scale”, echoing details aired in Jewish News over recent months.
“It is truly horrific,” he said, “barbarism we had hoped lost to another era, being practiced today in one of the leading members of the international community.”
From now on, he said, firms sourcing products from China must check their origin or risk heavy fines under the Modern Slavery Act, and lucrative Government contracts will only go to firms that can show their supply chains have no Xinjiang links.
Shadow Foreign Secretary Lisa Nandy accused Raab of pulling his punches, however. “The government has trailed long-awaited sanctions in the media on officials responsible for appalling human rights abuses in Xinjiang. We have waited months. Who has overruled him this time?”
The Board of Deputies said it was holding an emergency meeting for MPs on the plight of the Uyghurs ahead of an important vote which will take place in the House of Commons in the coming days.
In December, the House of Lords voted to add an amendment to a trade Bill. This amendment would revoke or prevent bilateral trade deals between the UK and any country which the High Court determines is carrying out a genocide.
That Bill will return to the House of Commons soon and MPs will get to vote on it. The Board said the amendment – which is directly aimed at the treatment of the Uyghurs in China – needed to be pass for China to take it seriously.
“The horrors which are taking place in Xinjiang cannot be denied,” said Board president Marie van der Zyl. “As the Foreign Secretary said this afternoon, the evidence of the scale and severity of the human right violations against Uyghur Muslims is now far reaching and paints a harrowing picture.
“We are not willing to stand aside and do nothing as millions are herded into concentration camps, stigmatised for their ethnicity and religion, made to do forced labour, as women are forcibly sterilised and children removed from their parents.
“We have seen this before. We know exactly where it can lead. And we urge the UK Government to listen to the many Conservative MPs who support this amendment.
“It is not too late to act. Together we can make the Chinese Government very much aware that should they continue in this way, there will be international consequences.”
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
