Australia’s anti-slavery commissioner has called on the Albanese Government to urgently address the “inadequacy” of its forced labour laws after revelations that it had allowed thousands of imports from Chinese companies blacklisted for their alleged links to Uyghur workers. Source: The Guardian.
Guardian Australia reported on Monday that Australia had received thousands of imports from Chinese companies blacklisted by the United States over alleged links to Uyghur forced labour.
Details gleaned from trade records obtained by The Guardian via freedom of information laws showed eight US-blacklisted companies were named as suppliers on 3347 declarations made by Australian importers.
The former federal Labor minister, Chris Evans, started his term as the country’s inaugural anti-slavery commissioner last month.
He said the revelations demonstrate “the inadequacy of Australia’s current approach to addressing modern slavery risks in supply chains”.
“While the Government’s commitment to reform is welcome, the pace of implementation remains concerning given the serious nature of these human rights violations,” Mr Evans said.
“Many businesses have been asking for clearer guidance to help address this issue. No business can address this level of complexity alone. However, these findings show many are simply ignoring the facts, relying on outdated strategies that are not fit for purpose. Clearly, both Government and business must do more and we must start now.”
The revelations also prompted renewed calls for Australia to introduce its own import ban on any good produced using forced or child labour, something Labor pledged to do in its 2021 national platform.
Be Slavery Free, a coalition of leading non-governmental organisations, said the trade records likely only “scratched the surface” of the true extent of Australia’s importation of goods linked to forced labour.
FULL STORY
Australia exposed to modern slave labour imports and many businesses ‘ignoring the facts’, commissioner warns (By Christopher Knaus and Helen Davidson, The Guardian)
