Canada’s 2024 Budget Commitment to Eradicating Uyghur Forced Labour

Canada’s 2024 Budget Commitment to Eradicating Uyghur Forced Labour.

The Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project (URAP) acknowledges the inclusion of measures to eradicate Uyghur forced labour in Canada's 2024 Budget. However, URAP remains highly skeptical, noting that this exact commitment was previously made in the 2023 Budget without any subsequent action. The persistent entry of goods produced by Uyghur forced labour into the Canadian market underscores the hollowness of these repeated pledges.

The 2024 Budget reiterates the intention to introduce legislation aimed at eliminating forced labour from Canadian supply chains and to strengthen the import ban on goods produced with forced labour. It specifically highlights the ongoing human rights violations against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in China, as well as global instances of forced labour.

While URAP appreciates the Government of Canada's renewed commitment, it stresses that without concrete actions, these commitments risk being reduced to mere moral talking points that tarnish Canada’s human rights stance. The same language used in the 2023 Budget has yet to translate into any significant governmental action to curb the infiltration of forced labour, despite existing mechanisms for implementing bans.

In response to the 2024 Budget, URAP Executive Director Mehmet Tohti expresses profound disappointment: "It is disheartening to witness the Government of Canada repeat the same rhetoric as last year regarding Uyghur forced labour, without presenting an action plan or taking concrete measures. How much longer must we wait to see some action? How long before a meaningful bill is introduced in the House and enacted into law? As Canadians, how long must we inadvertently support this abuse through our consumption of these products?"

URAP emphasizes that Uyghur forced labour is a crucial component of the ongoing genocide perpetrated by the Chinese Communist Party. By unwittingly purchasing such goods, Canadians inadvertently become complicit in these atrocities.