Scale of imports as “astounding”  

When the U.S. passed the UFLPA four years ago it was arguably the strongest forced labor law in recent years. It was seen as a possible bellwether. Other nations would follow suit and ban companies on the official “Entity List”. Conversely, since then imports to Australia from at least eight of the banned companies have only increased.

Nurgul Sawut, an Australian Uyghur activist campaigning for the federal government to ban imports from companies with alleged links to Uyghur forced labor said: 

“If we look at it from international perspective, there’s very little to no action whatsoever, trying to ban or even paying attention to any products … [that are] actually produced by forced labor.” 

Indeed, the recent investigation found thousands of imports flooding into Australia. All from Chinese companies blacklisted by the U.S. over alleged links to forced Uyghur labor. Accordingly, these imports range from car batteries and trains used by state governments to safety gear for tradespeople, spices and food additives, and laser printers.