Oct. 3 (UPI) — Homeland Security on Wednesday blacklisted two Chinese companies over forced labor allegations among the minority Muslim Uyghurs population in the Xinjiang region, officials said.
Chinese steel company Baowu Group Xinjiang Bayi Iron and Steel Co., Ltd., and artificial sweetener business Changzhou Guanghui Food Ingredients Co., Ltd. were designated under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List.
The department said they were the first two steel and aspartame companies added to the list.
“The UFLPA is catalyzing American businesses to fully examine and assess their supply chains and setting a new standard for our international partners as we work together to eradicate forced labor from the global economy,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement.
“The Department of Homeland Security will continue to add exploitative companies to the UFLPA Entity List, enforce the law, and uphold the values of the United States.”
The U.S. government has placed a total of 75 companies on the list.
Homeland Security said the Entity List includes a wide range of Chinese businesses, from apparel, agriculture, plastics, chemicals, household appliances and electronics. Officials called on U.S. companies to weed out sanctioned companies from their supply chain.
“Today’s actions reaffirm our commitment to eliminating force labor from U.S. supply chains and upholding our values of human rights for all,” Robert Silvers, Homeland Security’s under-secretary for policy, said in a statement.
“No sector is off-limits. We will continue to identify entities across industries and hold accountable those who seek to profit from exploitation and abuse.”