Freedom United partner organization, the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), has disappointingly lost the legal challenge it brought against the U.K. authorities for failing to investigate cotton imports linked to forced labor from China’s Uyghur Region.
WUC claims that these official bodies have commuted an unlawful failure, or refusal to investigate imports from the Uyghur Region. China’s Uyghur Region is claimed to be home to 380 internment camps used to detain Uyghurs and people from other Muslim minorities.
Reportedly, 85% of Chinese cotton was grown in the Uyghur Region, an area that has long been known as a home to manufacturing facilities that linked to forced labor.
While this denial of action comes as a great disappointment, it is the start of a long and hopeful road for the Uyghur people, a road to accountability, and hopefully fair treatment.
The defense was based mostly on the technicality that there was no proof of a crime being committed, only evidence that there was a “chance that a crime had been committed”. The defense held that there was not sufficient evidence to substantiate convictions for any crimes.
Gearóid Ó Cuinn deplored that a ruling like this could send a negative message, one of no consequence to unscrupulous business. While the negative ramifications are painfully obvious, the movement isn’t giving up.
Freedom United and over 280 organizations, led front and center by survivors and families of current detainees, are calling on the Chinese government to close its camps and set these people free.
