Collins, Bipartisan Group of Colleagues Cosponsor Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) cosponsored the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, bipartisan legislation recently introduced by Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR). This bipartisan bill will help to ensure that goods made with Uyghur forced labor in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) do not enter the United States. Earlier this year, the State Department issued a determination that the Chinese Communist Party is committing crimes against humanity and genocide against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.
“The United States must hold China accountable for these egregious violations of human rights and crimes against humanity, “said Senator Collins. “This bipartisan bill calls attention to the current crisis in Xinjiang and ensures that goods produced in these labor camps are barred from entering the United States.”
“As the Chinese Communist Party is committing egregious human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities, including genocide and other crimes against humanity, there is no excuse to turn a blind eye. We must instead do everything in our power to stop them,” said Senator Rubio. “This bill is an important step in that direction. My bipartisan Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act would ensure that the CCP is not profiting from its abuses by stopping products made with Uyghur forced labor from entering our supply chains.”
“For years, the Chinese government has been committing genocide in Xinjiang, subjecting Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities to torture, imprisonment, forced labor, and pressure to abandon their religious and cultural practices,” said Senator Merkley, who is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and serves on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC). “The fact that some of the products they’ve been forced to produce are ending up on American shelves is disturbing and unacceptable. We must ban the importation of these goods to ensure that we are not complicit in the genocide, and fully commit ourselves to holding the perpetrators accountable for these atrocities.”
In addition to Senators Collins, Rubio, and Merkley, the legislation was cosponsored by James Risch (R-ID), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), John Cornyn (R-TX), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Mitt Romney (R-UT), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Steve Daines (R-MT), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), James Lankford (R-OK), Mark Warner (D-VA), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Tina Smith (D-MN), Rick Scott (R-FL), Cory Booker (D-NJ), John Thune (R-SD), Ed Markey (D-MA), John Boozman (R-AR), Mike Braun (R-IN), Chris Coons (D-DE), Ben Sasse (R-NE), Todd Young (R-IN), and Ben Cardin (D-MD).
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