According to the CPB, the shipment originated in Xinjiang, China, pointing to possible human rights abuses of forced labor and imprisonment. The products were worth more than $ 800,000 dollars.
Xinjiang is an autonomous rural region in northwest China and home to approximately 11 million Uyghurs, a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority with a different culture and language. Until recently, there were many more Uighurs in Xinjiang than the Han Chinese, the ethnic majority of whom make up the rest of the country.
The United States State Department estimates that more than a million Uighurs have been detained in a massive network of internment camps in Xinjiang, where they are reportedly “subjected to torture, cruel and inhuman treatment, including physical abuse and sexual, forced labor and death. “
In addition to political indoctrination, the former detainees told CNN that they experienced lack of sleep, lack of food, and forced injections.
This is the second time this year that CBP has seized products from China suspected of being made from prisoner hair.
“It is absolutely essential that American importers ensure that the integrity of their supply chain meets the human and ethical standards expected by the American government and by American consumers,” said Brenda Smith, Executive Assistant Commissioner, Office of Commerce CBP.
“The production of these goods constitutes a very serious violation of human rights, and the arrest warrant is intended to send a clear and direct message to all entities seeking to do business with the United States that unlawful practices will not be tolerated. and inhumane in supplying the United States. chains. ”
China has faced international scrutiny for its treatment of Uighurs, and in June, President Trump signed a bill that aimed to punish Beijing for its crackdown on the ethnic minority.
However, according to John Bolton’s new book “The Room Where It Happens,” Trump told Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2019 that he should “go ahead with the construction of the camps.” According to Bolton’s account, Trump thought that was “exactly the right thing to do.”
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