Video On Demand

Responding to Egregious Abuses in Xinjiang: Latest State of Play

December 6, 2022 • 10:30 – 11:00 am EST

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More than one million people have been detained and “re-educated” by the Chinese Government in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China, with repression dramatically escalating in 2017. Detainees and others have been pressed into forced labor through so-called poverty alleviation efforts, working in fields and factories to produce goods destined for export to the United States and other global markets. Although the Chinese government claims the camps have since closed, human rights organizations continue to identify a range of ongoing abuses, including the continued use of forced labor. The United States has responded to these allegations by imposing targeted sanctions against Chinese officials and companies , banning imports made with forced labor from the Xinjiang region from entering the United States, and rallying international coordination to close global markets and hold the Chinese government accountable.

This virtual event will mark the one-year anniversary of the passage of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act by taking stock of the current situation in Xinjiang and implementation of the UFLPA to date. Department of Homeland Security Under Secretary for Strategy, Policy, and Plans Robert Silvers will give keynote remarks, followed by a panel featuring Omer Kanat, Executive Director of the Uyghur Human Rights Project, Laura Murphy, Professor of Human Rights and Contemporary Slavery at the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice at Sheffield Hallam University, and Cynthia Whittenberg, Associate Director of the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America National Educational Institute.  Marti Flacks, Khosravi Chair in Principled Internationalism and Director of the Human Rights Initiative, will moderate.

This event is made possible through the generous support of Humanity United.

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Marti Flacks

​Marti Flacks

Former Khosravi Chair in Principled Internationalism and Former Director, Human Rights Initiative
Under Secretary for Strategy, Policy, and Plans, Department of Homeland Security
Executive Director, Uyghur Human Rights Project
Professor of Human Rights and Contemporary Slavery, Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice, Sheffield Hallam University

Cynthia Whittenberg

Associate Director, National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America National Educational Institute