March 18, 2021

Anna Murray 

Western countries are increasingly discussing how to respond to China’s forced labor issue. Parliament of Canada passed a resolution that denounced the way China treat Uyghurs as mass murder in February.

Starting from March 15, 2021, the Office of the Ombudsperson is finally operating. It is to probe human rights abuses of Canadian corporations overseas in mining, petroleum and the garment industry. 

The new ombudsperson, Sheri Meyerhoffer, owns more powers than its former. However, she may not have sufficient tools to verify China’s slave labor accusations.

Human rights advocator Garnett Genuis urged Ottawa to set a new law that the US had made.  According to the Bill, if customs officials are failed to prove the products from Xinjiang are not made by forced labor, the US government will prohibit them to enter into US territories.  

Photo:Webshot.