Uyghurs: US Senate passes bill to ban Xinjiang imports

The US Senate has passed a bill to ban imports from China's Xinjiang region, in response to alleged abuses of the mostly Muslim Uyghur minority group. The legislation would create an assumption that goods manufactured in Xinjiang are made with forced labour, unless proven otherwise. The Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act must pass the House of Representatives before it can be signed into law. The US has already banned imports of Xinjiang cotton and tomatoes.

The Chinese state has been widely accused of human rights abuses in Xinjiang against the Ugyhurs and other Muslim minority groups. Experts estimate at least a million people in the region have been detained in camps or imprisoned as part of a crackdown that began in 2017. Many thousands more who are not detained are subject to extensive surveillance and state control.

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