FLA issues Xinjiang risk briefing

WASHINGTON – The Fair Labour Association (FLA) has identified an increased risk of forced labour in Xinjiang, China. The labour standards organisation claims the risk stems from two sources, these being China’s internment of over one million Chinese citizens of ethnic Turkic origin in Xinjiang, and forced labour by prisoners in China’s regular judicial system. It says the risk is present at all levels of the supply chain, from the farm level (for cotton and other agriculture products) to finished-goods manufacture.

Notably, the FLA stats that, while normally forced labour can be detected and remediated through effective due diligence measures, in the case of Xinjiang, “companies cannot rely on normal due diligence activities to either confirm – or rule out – the presence of forced labour.”