EU reaches deal on forced labour ban, with China’s Xinjiang in its sights - eviltoast
  • filoria@lemmy.mlOP
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    8 months ago

    The funniest part about this ban is that it puts intense scrutiny on US supply chains, which are heavily reliant on prison labour.

    • Infamousblt [any]@hexbear.net
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      8 months ago

      I was gonna say, are they targeting the US then, which has one of the world’s largest slave labor populations? Somehow I doubt they’ll actually take action against the US for all the slave labor that happens there.

  • LibsEatPoop [any]@hexbear.net
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    8 months ago

    Adrian Zenz, a German researcher at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, whose work on Xinjiang has been widely-cited by Western legislators, said it would be better to have “no legislation” than what the EU has proposed

    Lol

  • bartolomeo@suppo.fi
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    8 months ago

    “It is appalling that in the 21st century slavery and forced labour still exist in the world,” said Pierre-Yves Dermagne, the deputy prime minister of Belgium, which holds the rotating EU presidency, prioritised the ban.

    “This hideous crime must be eradicated and the first step to achieve this consists in breaking the business model of companies that exploit workers.”

    Companies that exploit workers? How far are they going to go with that; is tying healthcare to employment and constantly raising output requirements considered exploitation?

    • freagle@lemmygrad.ml
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      8 months ago

      Which country enslaves the greatest portion of its population? The USA through its prison system

    • Kuori [she/her]@hexbear.net
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      8 months ago

      “It is appalling that in the 21st century slavery and forced labour still exist in the world,”

      United States: Stares in 13th Amendment

  • Cottenlai_Zhou [they/them]@hexbear.net
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    8 months ago

    Campaigners demanded that like the US, the EU place the burden of proof on importers who would be responsible for ensuring there is no forced labour in their supply chains – something the proposed risk-based legislation does not do.

    They want importers to have to prove that there isn’t slave labour? How does one prove a negative? Surely the burden should be on the accuser?

    • current@lemmy.ml
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      8 months ago

      i don’t wanna be the one to tell the slaves “hey guys i know forced labour sucks and all but we gotta have more ammo for this random war half-way across the globe so you’ll just have to push through it”

      same for things like EVs. i like things that use batteries a lot, but i’d really have a stronger guarantee that the materials to make it aren’t sourced by slave labour or methods that harm the local ecosystem… i mean a large part of that problem is also that the US has fuck all for recycling laws, i don’t think most lithium is actually recycled anyways. but that’s a different topic

      • What_Religion_R_They [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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        8 months ago

        Xinjiang cotton is needed for ammunition, and it’s clear the sanctions are purely for political-economical gain against China (since they don’t believe in the forced labour stuff), so it looks like they’re just cutting their nose off to spite their faces.

  • FluffyPotato@lemm.ee
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    8 months ago

    Common EU W. Hope the database they use for this include all the food products harvested with slavery too, like chocolate.