The Uyghurs have for years been subjected to numerous atrocity crimes, including genocide, committed against them by the Chinese Communist Party. The crimes and abuses documented include mass surveillance, arbitrary detentions, torture and sexual violence, forced sterilization, and forced labour. The use of Uyghur forced labour is longstanding, widespread, and well-documented. Based on research collected by the Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region, one in five cotton garments in the global apparel market are tainted by Uyghur forced labour. More than seventeen global industries are implicated in Uyghur forced labour.

In December 2021, the Uyghur Tribunal, chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice KC, concluded that hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs had been inducted into forced labour programmes. Professor Laura Murphy found that “minoritized citizens in the Uyghur Region are unable to choose not to accept a state-sponsored labor assignment”, and that forced labour occurs both within and outside internment camps. In 2020, the Canadian Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development heard numerous witnesses testify on the pervasiveness of Uyghur forced labour in China.

In 2022, MP Garnett Genuis, Senator Leo Housakos, Sarah Teich, and Enes Kanter Freedom spoke on this issue at a press conference in Ottawa. During the press conference, it was stated that Canada does not have effective enough enforcement mechanisms to stop products that have been tainted with Uyghur forced labour from entering the country.

The full conference can be watched here.