5 February 2021

Dear Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee,

Please accept this submission for the Customs Amendment (Banning Goods Produced By Uyghur ) Bill 2020 on behalf of the Australian Uyghur Tangritagh Women’s Association (AUTWA).

AUTWA represents Australian Uyghur women in South Australia and is a voice for Uyghur women in East Turkestan (aka Xinjiang, ). We do not have a single member in AUTWA that has not been personally affected by the gross human rights violations on family or friends in East Turkestan. Most of our women suffer from depression and anxiety arising from a sense of helplessness for the plight of their loved ones. They are unable to freely communicate with them, see them or help them financially due to the prohibition of transfer of funds to Uyghurs in some parts of East Turkestan.

We are writing to present our unequivocal support of the amendments proposed in this bill.

On behalf of AUTWA. I thank the committee for their time. Please contact me if you have any concerns with the contents of our submission so that we may have the opportunity to amend it where required based on your feedback.

Yours truly,

Ramila Chanisheff. President, Australian Uyghur Tangritagh Women’s Association (AUTWA)

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AUTWA Submission for the Customs Amendment (Banning Goods Produced By Uyghur Forced Labour) Bill 2020

The proposed bill amendments are as follows: 50A Prohibition of the importation of goods—goods produced by Uyghur forced labour The importation of the following goods is prohibited absolutely: (a) goods produced or manufactured in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China; (b) goods produced or manufactured in the People’s Republic of China through the use of forced labour (within the meaning of the Criminal Code). 5 Application provision The amendments made by this Schedule apply in relation to goods imported into Australia on or after the commencement of this Schedule.

Executive Summary

AUTWA believe that the Australian Government should support and pass the afore mentioned bill for reasons summarised below and elaborated further in the submission body. • China has not ratified the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Convention on Forced Labour, 1930 (No. 29) and Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention. As a result, there are no regulations to prevent the use of forced labour in China. • There is enough evidence to say that Chinese authorities are involved in facilitating forced Uyghur labour. Satellite imagery alone shows the growth of huge structures in East Turkestan. • Australian consumers have a right to be confident that products from China have not been made under conditions that violate human rights and are from forced labour. The onus of determining which companies are directly or indirectly using forced labour should not be on the consumer. • Companies irrespective of size/turnover should be held accountable and responsible for ensuring that their goods are not coming from forced labour. This can only be achieved through legislation that prevents goods made with forced labour entering Australia. • Existing legislation is not adequate in preventing Uyghur forced labour and only requires corporations with a turnover greater than $100 million to provide reporting with no specific penalties for non-compliance. • While not the primary outcome, introducing this bill will give some relief to Australian manufacturing as it is impossible to compete with forced labour.

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Submission Body

Modern slavery is an umbrella term used to describe , slavery, and slavery-like practices. It includes bonded labour, forced marriage and forced labour. China has been implicated in both forced marriage and forced labour of Uyghur and other ethnic Turkic minorities in the Xinjiang province. The Modern Slavery Act 2018 requires large businesses and Commonwealth entities to report on risks of modern slavery in their operations and supply chains, and actions to address those risks. However, where it falls short is there are no penalties for non-compliance, and it is limited to entities with an annual revenue of more than $100 million. Australia should be party to the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention. Laws to ban the importation of goods made with forced labour should not be limited to China and should extend to any nation.

The current provisions for the prohibition of goods made with slave labour is inadequate as there is enough evidence from human rights groups, academics, and journalists that Uyghur forced labour has been occurring for decades, and more evident in recent years. This has not prevented these goods from entering Australia and being sold through major retailers.

The government introduced the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act in March 2020. They have found that efforts to determine products and supply chains in Xinjiang are unreliable due to the extent forced labour is integrated into the regional economy. The Department of State’s June 2019 Trafficking in Persons Report found that “Authorities offer subsidies incentivizing Chinese companies to open factories in close proximity to the internment camps, and local governments receive additional funds for each inmate forced to work in these sites at a fraction of minimum wage or without any compensation.” The US policy prohibits import of all goods manufactured in whole or part by forced labour in the People’s Republic of China.

The and Canada have enacted similar legislation to the US banning the importation of goods made with forced Uyghur labour.

The Communist Chinese government is facilitating the use of forced labour on the guise of providing employment and skills to the Uyghurs and other ethnic Turkic minorities. The evidence speaks otherwise. Reports in China detail how detainee labour is being used to attract companies to set up shop in Xinjiang.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) in its “Uyghurs for Sale” report states there have been mass transfers of Uyghurs for forced labour in factories across mainland China.

Three case studies presented in the ASPI report state: 1. A factory in eastern China that manufactures shoes for US company Nike is equipped with watchtowers, barbed-wire fences and police guard boxes. The Uyghur workers, unlike their Han counterparts, are reportedly “unable to go home for holidays”. 2. Another eastern province factory claiming to supply sportswear multinationals Adidas and Fila, evidence suggests that Uyghur workers were transferred directly from one of Xinjiang’s ‘re-education camps’. 3. Several Chinese factories making components for Apple or their suppliers using Uyghur labour. Political indoctrination is a key part of their job assignments.

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ASPI’s research has identified 82 foreign and Chinese companies potentially directly or indirectly benefiting from the use of Uyghur workers outside Xinjiang through abusive labour transfer programs as recently as 2019: Abercrombie & Fitch, Acer, Adidas, , Amazon, Apple, ASUS, BAIC Motor, Bestway, BMW, Bombardier, Bosch, BYD, Calvin Klein, Candy, Carter’s, Cerruti 1881, Changan Automobile, Cisco, CRRC, Dell, Electrolux, Fila, Founder Group, GAC Group (automobiles), Gap, Auto, General Motors, Google, Goertek, H&M, , Hart Schaffner Marx, Hisense, , HP, HTC, Huawei, iFlyTek, Jack & Jones, Jaguar, Japan Display Inc., L.L.Bean, Lacoste, Land Rover, Lenovo, LG, Li-Ning, Mayor, Meizu, Mercedes-Benz, MG, Microsoft, Mitsubishi, Mitsumi, Nike, Nintendo, Nokia, Oculus, Oppo, Panasonic, Polo Ralph Lauren, Puma, SAIC Motor, Samsung, SGMW, Sharp, , Skechers, Sony, TDK, Tommy Hilfiger, Toshiba, Tsinghua Tongfang, Uniqlo, Victoria’s Secret, Vivo, Volkswagen, Xiaomi, Zara, Zegna, ZTE. Some brands are linked with multiple factories.

Out of these 82 companies that have been implicated, only a small number have instructed their vendors to terminate their relationships with these suppliers in 2020. French political activist and member of European parliament, Raphael Glucksmann has been lobbying these companies to end the use of forced labour with China. He has been able to convince some brands including H&M and Lacoste but states other brands will only change if they are forced by law. Glucksmann says legislation is more effective in removing forced labour from their supply chains than for it to be left to individual companies.

It has been reported that some of these companies have been lobbying US Congress members to weaken any legislation that prevents the use of forced Uyghur labour. This presents a stronger case for the Australian government to act given corporations find the use of forced labour profitable enough to lobby against the legislation. The Australian government must have protections in place to stop them from lobbying Australian ministers and senators against this legislation being approved and/or reducing its effectiveness.

In July 2019, ABC’s Four Corners revealed that brands such as Target, Cotton On, Jeanswest, Dangerfield, Ikea and H&M sold in Australia source cotton from Xinjiang. This resulted in Cotton On and Target reviewing their suppliers. The article says questions remain on the cotton supply of many other Australian brands such as the Noni B group and the Just Group. New Zealand firm Oritain can analyse samples of cotton to determine the presence of proportions of specific elements in cotton grown from the soil of Xinjiang. They use forensic science to determine the origin of food, fibre, and pharmaceutical goods. There are means to identify the origin of goods which can help companies determine where their goods are being made.

ABC News reported on the story of Melbourne woman Gulnur Idreis who received a brief video call from her sister Dilnur in Xinjiang who showed a copy of her employee ID card. Dilnur, previously a nurse, told her sister that she is forced to work and reside in a textile factory and is only allowed to see her children and parents once a week. She said in a hand scrawled message “660 people are brought in shackled and handcuffed. They have no choice [to work], they will end up in jail”. Dilnur then motioned to her sister that she wanted to end her life. Four Corners tracked down the company Dilnur has been forced to work for.

Gulnur is not alone in having family or friends being forced to work in factories in slave like conditions. Australian Uyghur community members have reported on being told through limited

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conversations that my “brother is making sneakers”, “my cousin is sewing”, “my friend makes telephones”. Some do not have the evidence that Gulnur had, others are too afraid to go public fearing it may worsen the situation for their loved one.

German Senior Fellow in China Studies, Dr Adrian Zenz believes: • the labour schemes are about creating total social control over the Uyghurs. • that the forced labour schemes in Xinjiang will lead to systemic breakdown of Uyghur family life as it was once known. • it will soon become impossible to determine whether manufacturing products made in Xinjiang are made with labour from former detainees or not.

The proposal to prohibit the importation of goods coming from Uyghur forced labour from the Xinjiang province and mainland China is necessary and overdue in Australia.

Companies that import goods from China into Australia should provide proof that their goods are not made using any forced labour. The law should extend to other persecuted minorities that may also be used for forced labour including Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Uzbeks and possibly other persecuted minorities such as the Tibetans, Falun Gong and Hong Kongers.

The legislation should outline how this bill will be enforced at customs and what safeguards there will be to prevent them being bypassed. It should ensure that the goods made with forced labour are not sent to an intermediary destination to be repackaged with the origin modified. There should be tough penalties for those found to be bypassing or attempting to bypass the legislation. Those penalties should not be limited to corporations but also extend to individuals with hefty fines or lengthy jail sentences.

As Raphael Glucksmann put it “If you [implement forced labor] in you would go to jail directly. So, why on earth would [brands] think they can escape any form of penal responsibility if they do it in China.” The same applies in Australia in the Criminal Code (through the Slavery, Slavery- like Conditions and People Trafficking) Act 2013.

The Chinese government and its supporters in Australia and abroad have denied the allegations of abuse of Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities using various tactics including challenging the independence and authenticity of the reports that have been published. Satellite imagery taken years before the construction of internment camps and since the world was made aware of them have shown that that the huge compounds that the Chinese government has referred to as “vocational training centres” along with prisons have expanded across East Turkestan to house more innocent people. The compounds have evolved in some regions starting off with prison like security and watch towers to having less apparent security features. Many factories have also been co- located with these internment camps. Reports of abuse have come from multiple sources with varying interests, satellite imagery of internment camps over time and a substantial body of evidence from the Chinese government itself. The evidence is indisputable.

Legislation to prevent forced Uyghur labour is not about targeting the Chinese people but a communist regime that has shown a flagrant disregard for human life to the extent that they will

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“show no mercy” to eliminate any perceived threats, even if it means wiping out an entire race. It has used its economic might and intimidation to threaten any country that challenges its behaviour. This will continue to occur if the free world continues to bow to China for economic gain.

The recent announcement of the persecution occurring to Uyghurs being labelled as genocide by the United States makes it imperative that this legislation is supported. Australia cannot be party to engaging in any business that uses slave labour. This legislation may lead to further countries introducing similar laws and put an end to forced labour at least in China.

This may ultimately lead to the end of the genocide of Uyghurs.

End.

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References 1) https://theconversation.com/think-slavery-in-australia-was-all-in-the-past-think-again-140543 2) https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/6210/text 3) https://www.aspi.org.au/report/uyghurs-sale 4) https://www.economist.com/united-states/2021/01/09/congress-is-moving-to-block-goods-made-with-the- forced-labour-of-uyghurs 5) https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-15/uyghur-forced-labour-xinjiang-china/11298750?nw=0 6) https://web.archive.org/web/20190524105429/https:/www.trjcn.com/topic/index/22227.html 7) https://qz.com/1947334/whos-trying-to-weaken-a-us-bill-targeting-forced-labor-in-china/ 8) https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=cd533290-3eb3-4d00-9c5f-34df9d0d0391 9) https://www.cdpp.gov.au/crimes-we-prosecute/human-trafficking-and-slavery 10) https://web.archive.org/web/20190524105429/https:/www.trjcn.com/topic/index/22227.html - link to advertisement in China offering cheap labour in the Aksu province in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. 11) https://new-zealand.globalfinder.org/company_page/oritain

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