{"id":361,"date":"2021-01-26T20:46:55","date_gmt":"2021-01-27T03:46:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.asucollegeoflaw.com\/ibt\/?p=361"},"modified":"2021-01-26T20:50:09","modified_gmt":"2021-01-27T03:50:09","slug":"canada-the-u-k-and-the-u-s-impose-sanctions-on-china-over-human-rights-violations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.asucollegeoflaw.com\/ibt\/canada-the-u-k-and-the-u-s-impose-sanctions-on-china-over-human-rights-violations\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada, the U.K., and the U.S. Impose Sanctions on China Over Human Rights Violations"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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By BethEl Nager<\/strong><\/em>
Law Student Editor<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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The United States, United Kingdom, and Canada have imposed sanctions on China based on reports of serious human rights violations occurring in Xinjiang and Hong Kong. Xinjiang, a region of China that produces raw materials such as coal, cotton, and sugar, is also home to many Uyghurs (or Uighurs), a Muslim ethnic minority. Reports indicate that this community has been subjected to forced labor, evident through \u201cdebt bondage, restriction of movement, with[olding] wages, and abusive living and working conditions.\u201d Ana Swanson, <\/a>U.S. Bans All Cotton and Tomatoes From Xinjiang Region of China<\/em><\/a>, <\/a>Wash. Post<\/a> (Jan. 29, 2021)<\/a>. In addition and separately, China has been accused of violating the human rights of residents of Hong Kong. This includes prison sentences of indefinite duration for exercising the human right to protest and denials of jury trials and of fair and public hearings by independent and impartial tribunals.<\/p>

In response to China\u2019s treatment of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, Canada imposed trade sanctions<\/a> on China on January 12, 2021. The country banned the importation of any items that were made in whole or part by forced labor. This practice aligns with Canada\u2019s Customs Tariff Act<\/a> which was amended on July 1, 2020 to ensure Canadian companies are complying with the country\u2019s laws and respecting human rights around the world. In addition, Canada adopted stricter controls on dual-use exports to China<\/a>, supplementing those reacting to the Hong Kong protests on July 7, 2020.<\/p>

The United Kingdom, on the same day, also enacted measures to protect against human rights abuses and the \u201chorrific barbarism<\/a>\u201d in Xinjiang. It included a review of government conduct to make sure the U.K. was not exporting goods that would perpetuate the problem, and the issuance of fines on business firms that do not disclose their trade connections with Xinjiang. This measure complies with the country\u2019s Modern Slavery Act<\/a> that was adopted in 2015 to denounce forced labor and require transparency in the U.K. supply chain.\u00a0<\/p>

Following suit, the United States, on January 13, 2021, implemented a ban on all cotton and tomatoes<\/a><\/u> originating from Xinjiang to show its strong aversion to the inhumane practices. This affects not only China, but major foreign importers, including Nike, Amazon, and H&M. Some of these enterprises had already severed ties with Xinjiang in response to disclosures of abuse. Despite the individual companies distancing themselves from the region, the U.S. remains one of the largest trading partners<\/a> with China. This ban follows the narrower limitation<\/a> on the importation of cotton from the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corporations in December of 2020.<\/p>

In response to the human rights abuses in Hong Kong, former President Trump had issued an executive order implementing sanctions in July 2020. The order revoked Hong Kong\u2019s status as an autonomous region granted \u201cdifferential treatment<\/a>\u201d in foreign trade as compared to China. Looking forward, the Biden administration has yet to announce its position on economic or trade sanctions as a response to human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By BethEl NagerLaw Student Editor The United States, United Kingdom, and Canada have imposed sanctions on China based on reports of serious human rights violations occurring in Xinjiang and Hong Kong. Xinjiang, a region of China that produces raw materials such as coal, cotton, and sugar, is also home to many Uyghurs (or Uighurs), a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.asucollegeoflaw.com\/ibt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.asucollegeoflaw.com\/ibt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.asucollegeoflaw.com\/ibt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.asucollegeoflaw.com\/ibt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/110"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.asucollegeoflaw.com\/ibt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.asucollegeoflaw.com\/ibt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":368,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.asucollegeoflaw.com\/ibt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361\/revisions\/368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.asucollegeoflaw.com\/ibt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.asucollegeoflaw.com\/ibt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.asucollegeoflaw.com\/ibt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}