Scott Nova, executive director of the Workers Rights Consortium in Washington, D.C., said the Prevention of Forced Uyghur Labor Act "could significantly reduce forced labor in Xinjiang" because it would eliminate Xinjiang Most markets for commodities. “A key question is whether brands that sell in the U.S. will try to take advantage of weaker protections in other consumer markets to bring Xinjiang goods into those markets,” Nova said. "Our coalition will work to identify and publicly expose this practice by any brand and retailer," he added.
Laura Murphy, a professor of human rights company banner design at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK, said the EU should impose a similar import ban on goods from Xinjiang. "I think EU citizens would be shocked if they knew there was no ban on products made with forced labor," Murphy said. “But the EU also needs to be a leader in enforcing human rights due diligence. These are all necessary to ensure companies address forced labour and other abuses in their supply chains,” she said. Brands such as Japanese retailers Uniqlo and Muji have come under scrutiny for materials from Xinjiang. In January last year, the United States blocked a shipment of Uniqlo men's shirts over concerns that the company was violating a ban on importing cotton products from the region.
In response to questions from the BBC last week, a Uniqlo spokesman did not say whether the brand uses Xinjiang cotton. "We will continue to work with (U.S. officials) to implement measures to ensure the smooth import of our products. We are awaiting new guidelines to be issued on June 21," the spokesman said. China's online sales plummet for brands like Xinjiang Cotton Effect NIKE Photo Credit: WebMD Meanwhile, Japanese retailer Muji has been criticized for launching a 2019 line of oxford shirts "made from delicate organic cotton carefully selected in Xinjiang".