The agency has issued four such detention orders against Chinese companies since September 2019.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced Tuesday that its agents will detain any goods made by Chinese apparel manufacturer the Hero Vast Group, which CBP alleges utilizes prison labor.
Federal law prohibits the importation of goods made in part or wholly by forced labor, including prison labor.
Though the Hero Vast Group appears to have closed its website, a 2016 archived snapshot of the company’s website states that the menswear and womenswear manufacturer exports 90% of its products to North America and lists Sears as one of the company’s major U.S. customers at the time.
Since September 2019, CBP has issued four detention orders against Chinese companies. And, in July, CBP seized 13 tons of hair products suspected to have been shorn from Uighurs being held in Chinese internment camps. The seized goods were estimated to be valued at $800,000.
“As part of its trade enforcement responsibilities, CBP is dedicated to vigilantly monitoring U.S.-bound supply chains for links to forced labor, including prison labor, and will act to deter and disrupt the importation of merchandise made with forced labor practices,” said Brenda Smith, Executive Assistant Commissioner of CBP’s Office of Trade. “The use of forced labor is not just a serious human rights issue, but it also brings about unfair competition in our global supply chains. CBP’s goal is to ensure that goods made by forced labor never reach U.S. consumers.”
The CBP has shown a new commitment to enforcement of federal laws against the importation of goods made through forced labor. However, the Hero Vast Group is just one of dozens of Chinese manufacturers that have chosen to exploit the Uighur population in China.
A February report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) exposed “at least 82 well-known global brands in the technology, clothing and automotive sectors, including Apple, BMW, Gap, Huawei, Nike, Samsung, Sony and Volkswagen,” that utilized Uighur forced labor.
Additionally, the Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region, comprised of more than 190 human rights groups, estimates that one in five “cotton garments in the global apparel market are tainted by forced labour,” with 84% of China’s cotton production coming from Xinjiang region where Uighur detention camps are located.
The ASPI and the Coalition both call upon brands and retailers to end their contracts with suppliers that use the forced labor of the Uighur population in China. However, there’s been little action to this effect.
“The only way brands can ensure they are not profiting from the exploitation is by exiting the region and ending relationships with suppliers propping up this Chinese government system,” said Anti-Slavery International CEO Jasmine O’Connor.
With Uighur detention camps so enmeshed in the production of many of China’s goods, there undoubtedly has already been a great deal of merchandise imported into America that was made through prison labor, and an abundance of other Chinese manufacturers not currently prohibited by the CBP will continue to import their goods. Further pressure is needed on all fronts, from government to consumer, to put an end to the abuse of the Uighur population.