Beware! US human rights organizations turn their attention to Xinjiang red dates

Recently, American human rights organizations have begun to turn their attention to Xinjiang red dates.

The Washington - based Uighur Human Rights Organization released an investigation report last week.

The report shows that the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area and some online retailers in the United States continue to sell more than 70 brands of red dates grown and processed in Xinjiang , China .

The organization investigated more than a dozen international grocery stores in the Washington, D.C. , and metropolitan areas of the United States between February and August 2022, and found red date products from Xinjiang, China in seven stores . U.S. online retailers including Amazon, eBay, and Walmart are selling red dates from Xinjiang, China .

Currently, at least 15 U.S. companies import red date products for wholesale distribution to retailers, including Bloomington Import, Growland Inc., H&C Food Inc., OCM Globe Inc. and Tristar Food Wholesale Co., Inc.

The report's author , Nuzigum Setiwaldi, used global, U.S. and Chinese trade data to trace the global supply chain of red dates , and then concluded that 20% of the world's red dates come from China's Xinjiang region and are likely the product of forced labor .

The report said that as long as red dates from Xinjiang remain on American store shelves, American food retailers and consumers may be complicit in forced labor and other atrocities.

The group tried to contact the stores and distributors named in the report, but some emails bounced. Others either did not respond directly or simply acknowledged receipt of the email.

In March 2021, H&M was strongly boycotted by the whole nation for a statement that it would stop using Xinjiang cotton . Subsequently, Amazon began to remove Chinese cotton products from its shelves. Wayfair , an American home furnishing e-commerce platform, also informed sellers that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection ( CBP) will refuse to import goods from Xinjiang produced by forced or contract labor , and related products may be seized and confiscated.

US President Biden officially signed legislation in December 2021 to ban imports from China's Xinjiang region, claiming that forced labor exists in the region.

China has repeatedly denied these allegations, and a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that some forces are manipulating issues related to Xinjiang and fabricating false information about " forced labor " in Xinjiang . They are essentially using human rights as an excuse to undermine Xinjiang's prosperity and stability and curb China's development and revitalization.

After the ban on " Xinjiang cotton " , foreign trade companies and cross-border sellers were the first to be affected . Yien will continue to pay attention to whether American human rights organizations will take the next step against Xinjiang red dates.

Human Rights Organizations

Xinjiang red dates