Most holiday shoppers assume the items available in their local stores have been vetted in some way so they are free of labor abuses and exploitation. However, the sad truth is that the holiday score of the “perfect gift” may be coming at a huge cost for others. Due to the growth of China’s labor transfer scheme, goods manufactured across China now often come with a price tag that includes forced labor.  

Suffering for sale?

The Uyghur Region in China has long been synonymous with forced labor and labor exploitation. And many consumers and governments have begun rejecting goods coming out of the area for that reason. However, China’s ever-expanding “labor transfer scheme” means Uyghur exploitation is no longer limited to goods made in the Uyghur Region.  

Samir Goswami is the director of forced labor programs at Global Rights Compliance (GRC). And Annick Febrey is the principal and cofounder of Better Trade Collective. Both previously worked for the US government on forced labor issues. 

As published on MSN, Febrey and Goswami stated: 

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