Rep. Smith applauds passage of forced labor prevention legislation

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) recently applauded the enactment of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (H.R. 6256), which stops U.S. imports produced by slave labor.

Smith served as the bill’s co-sponsor.

“Enactment into law of the bipartisan Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act I co-sponsored with Congressman Jim McGovern is an important and necessary step toward ending—or at least mitigating—the United States’ complicity in Xi Jinping’s horrible ongoing genocide against his own people,” said Smith, co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission and ranking member of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. “By prohibiting imports unless clear and convincing evidence shows the goods were not produced with forced labor, this new law will help ensure the United States is not aiding and abetting the Chinese Communist Party in their horrific human rights violations.”

Smith has chaired 74 congressional hearings on Chinese human rights abuses and authored the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2018.

“I will continue to work tirelessly to ensure this new law is implemented and enforced to the fullest extent possible in order to hold the Chinese government accountable for its gross human rights abuses and abject cruelty towards people of all faith—which has evolved at Xi Jinping’s personal direction into genocide against the Uyghurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang,” Smith said.