This was a question asked by Fiona in a Westminster Hall debate about forced labour camps in Tibet.
Recent reports have found that half a million labourers were collected into camps in the first seven months of 2020 for mandatory “vocational training” and forcible transfer schemes.
“I believe that the Government are now actually listening; they are listening more than they did three or four years ago, when the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission, which I chair, published its report “The Darkest Moment: The Crackdown on Human Rights.”
“We made 22 recommendations in it, some of which have been echoed here today. It is a tragedy that four years on, yet we are still asking the same questions.”
Drawing attention to the report, which is currently being updated, Fiona went on to highlight that political prisoners in Tibet are also subjected to egregious human rights violations such beatings by police and other security services during interrogation sessions, mock executions and electric shock treatment.
MPs across the House were quick to draw similarities to the attempted eradication and forced labour of ethnic minorities from across China – including Uyghur labour in the Xinjang region.
Brands such as Apple, BMW, Huwei, Nike, Samsung, Sony and Volkswagen were among those could be implicated by the use of forced labour in that region, according to Fiona.
“There are similar concerns about the fashion industry, with potentially almost a fifth of the world’s cotton supplies originating from Xinjiang. I urge the Government to work with businesses to ensure that supply chains originating from Tibet are not similarly tainted with forced labour. To enforce this, the Government should use their new powers to issue civil penalties for non-compliance with the Modern Slavery Act 2015, which would require large organisations to report on steps they are taking to remove forced labour from supply chains and to demonstrate reasonable practices in their supply chains.”
She also asked for the UN to install a Special Rapporteur to investigate forced labour in China and Government sanctions which would “send out a clear message that the UK will stand up for human rights globally, wherever such abuses occur.”
“We need to ensure that the Government do not just listen and speak, but act.”
‘The Darkest Moment’ and other Human Rights Commission reports chaired by Fiona can be found at www.conservativehumanrights.com.
The full transcript of Fiona's speech can be found here: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2020-10-07/debates/12B1306D-28AC-43B6-BC13-E091E922E177/ChinaLabourProgrammeInTibet#contribution-EBFE9A74-0099-4BDA-964C-45F839C46541