URAP JOINS COALITION AGAINST FORCED LABOUR IN TRADE

URAP is proud to announce our membership in the Coalition Against Forced Labour in Trade, launched by The Freedom Fund and the Human Trafficking Legal Center. URAP is looking forward to joining a global network of established civil society organizations from the United States, Australia, the European Union, Japan, Mexico, South Korea and the United Kingdom, banning together to introduce and enforce import bans against goods made using forced labour. Together, through learning and information-sharing, we will strive to effectively combat forced labour in global supply chains and increase transparency and accountability for forced labour. The formation of the Coalition Against Forced Labour in Trade serves as a testament that those working under conditions of forced labour are not forgotten.

We are honoured to represent Canada and the Uyghur people in this initiative. This endeavour complements and will surely advance our work on eradicating forced labour from the Canadian market. Every time a shipment from the East Turkestan, where detained Uyghurs are engaged in conditions of forced labour, freely passes through the Canadian borders our complicity in the Uyghur genocide deepens. Alongside the support of our coalition partners, URAP will remain steadfast in our advocacy for Canada to act on behalf of its domestic obligations, namely, the due diligence advisory issued by Global Affairs Canada and the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service and the Government of Canada’s pledge to eradicate forced labour from Canadian supply chains in the 2023 federal budget. However, commitments without action merely become moral talking points that mar Canada’s human rights posture. Despite there being mechanisms for bans on forced labour being in place, Canada fails because of enforcement gaps and oversights. Our work in this Coalition will strive to address and rectify this reality in Canada.