Overview
On 12 January 2021, UK Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, announced a package of measures intended to ensure that British organisations in the public and private sector are not complicit in – or profiting from – human rights violations against Uyghur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang region.
The UK has worked in coordination with the Canadian government on the new measures, which were introduced in response to growing evidence of gross human rights violations, including extra-judicial detention and forced labour, in the Xinjiang region of China.
Announcing the measures in a statement to the House of Commons, the UK foreign Secretary stated that the aim of the measures is to ensure that “no company that profits from forced labour in Xinjiang can do business in the UK, and no UK business is involved in their supply chains.”
The measures reflect a number of recommendations the Conservative Human Rights Commission made to the UK government in its report on human rights in China, The Darkness Deepens: The Crackdown on Human Rights in China 2016 - 2020, which was published on 13 January 2021. The measures also build on a raft of US actions introduced to combat forced labour in China, which we discussed in greater detail in previous client alerts (here, here, here and here).
The new package of UK measures is comprised of the following four elements:
- Publication of Guidance to UK Business
- Directly or indirectly providing goods and services to authorities in Xinjiang are at risk of unintentionally facilitating human rights violations – the guidance identifies businesses that engage in joint-research and development activities in the fields of surveillance, biometrics or tracking technology as being at particular risk;
- With supply chain links to Xinjiang face particular reputational, economic and legal risks due to extensive and credible evidence of forced labour programmes targeting Uyghur and other ethnic minorities;
- Are strongly recommended to undertake careful and robust due diligence to ensure their operations do not directly or indirectly contribute to human rights violations and should be aware that conducting due diligence in Xinjiang is challenging due to limits on access for auditors and others, the likelihood that workers will be able to speak freely and the extent and severity of human rights violations occurring in the Xinjiang region.
- Introduction of Financial Penalties for Failure to Publish Modern Slavery Statements
- Extension of Modern Slavery Act Transparency in Supply Chain Provisions to UK Public Bodies
- Urgent Review of Export Controls