Human Rights

Government reviews importing of goods made with forced labour

Move comes after legal rights group threatened court action to secure a ban on imports of cotton from the Xinjiang region of China that is produced by the forced labour of Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic minorities

An ethnic minority worker operates machinery at a textile plant in Aksu, western China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region during a government organized trip for foreign journalists. Picture: Shutterstock

The government has launched a review of the importation of goods made with forced labour after a legal rights group warned they were prepared to pursue the state through European courts to secure a ban, if required.

The Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), in partnership with the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), wrote to the Revenue Commissioners earlier this month demanding that imports of cotton from the Xinjiang region of China be halted.

Cotton from the ...