<div dir="auto"><div><br><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">---------- Forwarded message ---------<br>From: <strong class="gmail_sendername" dir="auto">Catherine Feingold</strong> <span dir="auto"><<a href="mailto:cfeingold@aflcio.org">cfeingold@aflcio.org</a>></span><br>Date: Mon, Dec 14, 2020, 6:55 PM<br>Subject: Fwd: Advisory: Cathy Feingold, AFL-CIO International Director, Rep. McGovern + End Uyghur Forced Labor Coalition Zoom Call to Condemn Corporate Lobbying To Weaken Bill<br>To: Arthur Stamoulis <<a href="mailto:arthur@citizenstrade.org">arthur@citizenstrade.org</a>><br></div><br><br><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">FYI for list....</div><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div><span class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">Please see a press conference we are joining tomorrow regarding our support for the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.</span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">---------- Forwarded message ---------<br>From: <strong class="gmail_sendername" dir="auto">Gonzalo Salvador</strong> <span dir="auto"><<a href="mailto:gsalvador@aflcio.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">gsalvador@aflcio.org</a>></span><br>Date: Mon, Dec 14, 2020 at 5:56 PM<br>Subject: Advisory: Cathy Feingold, AFL-CIO International Director, Rep. McGovern + End Uyghur Forced Labor Coalition Zoom Call to Condemn Corporate Lobbying To Weaken Bill<br>To: Gonzalo Salvador <<a href="mailto:gsalvador@aflcio.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">gsalvador@aflcio.org</a>><br></div><br><br><div dir="ltr"><div><span id="m_4957036876073342585m_4866532674707130438m_-2513306389495658301m_-7752434418652320066m_206753472815269686gmail-docs-internal-guid-2bde90e1-7fff-6555-4318-54cb042f0a9c"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:center;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Rep. Jim McGovern + End Uyghur Forced Labor Coalition Condemn Corporate Lobbying To Weaken Bill</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Washington D.C.</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">— Representative Jim McGovern (D-MA), the AFL-CIO, the Campaign for Uyghurs, the Worker Rights Consortium, and Global Labor Justice-International Labor Rights Forum will hold a press briefing on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (S.3471), the history of Uyghur oppression and forced labor, and corporations lobbying against the bill.</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">An estimated one to three million Uyghur and other Turkic peoples have been rounded up into labor camps where they’ve been subjected to sterilization, violence, and forced to denounce their religion and culture. 20% of the world’s cotton comes from the region, meaning 1-in-5 cotton garments are tainted by forced labor.</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The bill is designed to end the use of Uyghur forced labor in corporate supply chains by banning all imports with content from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (otherwise known as the Uyghur Region) — unless the brand importing the product can prove it was not made with forced labor. On September 22nd, the US House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (H.R. 6210) 406 to 3; Representative McGovern is the bill sponsor, and chairs the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. </span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">In the last several weeks, news sources have </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">reported</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> that </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/11/20/apple-uighur/" style="text-decoration-line:none" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Apple</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">, </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/29/business/economy/nike-coca-cola-xinjiang-forced-labor-bill.html" style="text-decoration-line:none" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Nike, and Coca-Cola</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> are lobbying the U.S. Senate to weaken or halt the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevent Act. </span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">When: </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Tuesday, December 15th at 11am</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Where: </span><a href="https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83833894779" style="text-decoration-line:none" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Roboto,sans-serif;color:rgb(26,115,232);font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83833894779</span></a></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Who: </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Cathy Feingold (Director of the International Department at the AFL-CIO), </span><span style="background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Representative Jim McGovern (D-MA)</span><span style="background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:700;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">, </span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;white-space:pre-wrap">Rushan Abbas (Executive Director of the Campaign for Uyghurs), Scott Nova (Executive Director at the Worker Rights Consortium), Allison Gill (Forced Labor Program Director at Global Labor Justice-International Labor Rights Forum)</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">What: </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">End Uyghur Forced Labor Coalition Press Briefing on Corporate Lobbying Against Uyghur Forced Labor Prevent Act</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Background:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">On September 17th, three of the members of the 280 + groups that make up the </span><a href="https://enduyghurforcedlabour.org/" style="text-decoration-line:none" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Coalition to End Uyghur Forced Labor</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> testified before the House Ways & Means Committee. Campaign for Uyghurs, the Workers Rights Consortium, and the AFL-CIO are part of a coalition calling on apparel brands to divest from the Xinjiang Region of China. </span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Earlier this year, </span><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/auditors-say-they-no-longer-will-inspect-labor-conditions-at-xinjiang-factories-11600697706" style="text-decoration-line:none" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The Wall Street Journal</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> reported that many major auditing firms have agreed to cease labor compliance audits in the region, recognizing that the only purpose such audits serve in such a repressive environment is to give a false impression of due diligence. </span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Last week, the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced that it will block imports of all products containing cotton produced by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), in response to widespread concerns over the use of forced labor in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). The XPCC, a Chinese government paramilitary body, controls approximately a third of the region’s cotton production— six percent of all cotton globally. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="text-align:center;line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">###</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">About the Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The </span><a href="http://www.enduyghurforcedlabour.org/" style="text-decoration-line:none" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> is a coalition of civil society organisations and trade unions united to end state-sponsored forced labour and other egregious human rights abuses against people from the Uyghur Region in China, known to local people as East Turkistan. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The coalition is calling on leading brands and retailers to ensure that they are not supporting or benefiting from the pervasive and extensive forced labour of the Uyghur population and other Turkic and Muslim-majority peoples, perpetrated by the Chinese government. Right now, there is near certainty that any brand sourcing apparel, textiles, yarn or cotton from the Uyghur Region is profiting from human rights violations, including forced labour, both in the Uyghur Region and more broadly throughout China. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">We are asking brands and retailers to exit the Uyghur Region at every level of their supply chain, from cotton to finished products, to prevent the use of forced labour of Uyghurs and other groups in other facilities, and to end relationships with suppliers supporting the forced labour system. Brands and retailers must take each of these steps in order to fulfil their corporate responsibility obligations to respect human rights as defined in international principles such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The coalition urges national governments to strengthen and enforce existing laws prohibiting trade in goods produced using forced labour, and to adopt and implement binding laws requiring human rights due diligence in supply chains. The coalition is further committed to working with multilateral organisations like the ILO and OECD to use their mechanisms to end forced labour in the Uyghur Region as well as forced labour and human trafficking of people from these communities. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">We call on governments, MSIs, brands, and other stakeholders to join us in challenging this abusive system and together build the economic and political pressure on the Chinese government to end forced labour in the Uyghur Region.</span></p><br></span></div><div><br></div></div>
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