Washington D.C. – Today, U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell (AL-07) voted to pass the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act to hold the Chinese government accountable for its horrific human rights abuses against the Uyghur people and confront its ongoing exploitation of forced labor. The bill passed unanimously in the House.

“The United States and our international partners must stand up against the brutal oppression and genocide of the Uyghur people being perpetrated by the Chinese government,” said Rep. Sewell. “This bill takes an important step toward holding China accountable for its horrific human rights abuses and its exploitation of forced labor.”

“As a leading voice on labor enforcement in Congress, I’m pleased that this bill builds on standards included in USMCA which strengthen the prohibition of goods made with forced labor,” continued Sewell. “This will ensure that Chinese goods blocked at the U.S. border will not find their way into third markets. Moreover, this bill utilizes the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force, which I helped to create as the Enforcement co-lead of the USMCA Working Group.”

The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act:

• Creates a “rebuttable presumption” that any goods made in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) are made with forced labor and prohibited from entering the United States unless “clear and convincing” evidence is shown to the contrary.
• Authorizes the President to apply targeted visa and asset sanctions on any person responsible for the labor trafficking of Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities and directs the Secretary of State to develop a strategy to address forced labor in the XUAR.
• Requires disclosures by publicly traded companies in their quarterly and annual reports about any engagement with entities building or running detention facilities and developing or providing surveillance systems in the XUAR; or engagement with any persons subject to U.S. sanctions, or responsible for, or complicit in, committing atrocities in the XUAR.