Oct. 31 (UPI) — The United States on Thursday announced import bans on products produced by Hong Kong-based Esquel Group, one of the world’s largest textile and apparel companies, as well as a handful of related firms, on allegations of using forced Uyghur labor.
The company, along with Guangdong Esquel Textile, Turpan Esquel Textile and Changji Esquel Textile, were added to the Department of Homeland Security’s Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List over allegations of using cotton sourced for the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China.
Changji Esquel Textile was moved to that list but was previously banned under a separate though similar rule of the UFLPA that denied U.S. entry to products made wholly or in part with forced Uyghur labor.
The ban goes into effect Friday.
“We are uncompromising in removing forced labor from U.S. supply chains,” Under Secretary for Policy Robert Silvers, who serves as chair of the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force, said in a statement.
The UFLPA was signed into law in December of 2021 and has since seen 78 companies added to the entity list.
Esquel Group, a former supplier for Nike, has previously argued against the allegations of using forced Uyghur labor.
When Changji Esquel Textile was first banned in 2022, Esquel Group issued a statement rejecting the allegations, saying they “morally oppose the use of forced labor” and that they meet all international standards for their products.
UPI has contacted Esquel Group for comment.
Human rights abuses by China, including against its Muslim minority Uyghur citizens in the northwestern Xinjiang region, have deepened the rift between Washington and Beijing.
The United States has accused China of genocide over its treatment of Uyghurs, of whom more than a million are believed to have been held in concentration camps in Xinjiang since 2017.
There, the United States maintains Uyghurs are forced to work in textile, apparel, agricultural, consumer, electronics and other labor-intensive industries. Uyghurs who refuse are punished with detention and other measures.
They are also arbitrarily imprisoned and subjected to forced sterilization, torture and labor as well as draconian restrictions on freedom of religion, expression and movement.
China has repeatedly denied the allegations, claiming the camps are for re-education purposes and stamping out terrorism.
The United States last added names to its Entity List over alleged Uyghur forced labor early last month when it banned the products of Chinese steel company Baowu Group Xinjiang Bayi Iron and Steel and artificial sweetener business Changzhou Guanghui Food Ingredients.
