Uighurs: Senate votes for resolution to ban import of products of forced labor

Many brands are accused of using the forced labor of the Uyghur population to produce products that are then sold at low prices. The French Senate on Thursday passed a motion to pass an environmental resolution to ban Uyghur forced labor products in China, despite formal reservations from several political groups. Out of 343 votes, the non-binding text received 144 votes in favor, none against. But the senatorial majority groups, Les Républicains and the Centrist Union, abstained.

At the European level, a draft regulation is being discussed that will eventually allow member states to ban the import of products obtained from forced labor without explicitly targeting China. For the signatories to the proposal for a resolution, “it’s too little, too late”, in part because the states “will have to substantiate their own suspicions that the product is the result of forced labor”.

“A position close to the position of the United States”

“We would like France and Europe to take a position close to that of the United States,” shifting the burden of proof, said the president of the environmental group, Guillaume Gontar. Thus, the proposal for a resolution invites the European Union to revise the draft regulation to “prohibit the import of goods manufactured using forced labor and originating, even in part, from the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, unless the companies concerned can prove beyond any doubt – and only they bear burden of proof that their production does not involve forced labour.”

A “view” that LR and centrist senators do not share, even if they support the purpose of the resolution proposal. “In the labyrinth of modern supply chains, it will be almost impossible to eliminate this doubt,” said Pascal Gruni (LR). Communist Fabien Gay, for his part, found the reference to the American system “problematic”, noting that the decisions of the United States “are part of the logic of economic warfare”. Nevertheless, his group favored the proposal for a resolution, with two exceptions.

“We call for the acceleration of European discussions”

In addition to the environmental group, the PS, the RDPI with a Renaissance majority, the Independents and the RDSE with a radical majority also voted for the text. “Our goal today is for the European Union to take action to meet the challenges,” said Foreign Trade Minister Olivier Becht. “Therefore, France will closely follow the further refinement of the draft regulation,” and “we call for the acceleration of European discussions,” he added.

French justice dismissed a preliminary investigation in April against clothing giants like Uniqlo and Inditex, accused by associations of profiting from forced labor for Uyghurs in China. A new complaint was filed in May. In January 2022, the National Assembly passed a resolution condemning China’s “genocide” of the Uighurs, asking the French government to do the same.