An agreement was reached on Tuesday March 5 in Brussels to ban products resulting from forced labor from the European market. This notably includes Chinese production involving the Uyghur Muslim minority.
Through this agreement, investigations can be launched into suspected forced labor in companies' supply chains. Forced labor affects some 27.6 million people worldwide, including 3.3 million children, according to the International Labor Organization. The Chinese region of Xinjiang could be among the risk areas. The American authorities, as well as several other Western countries, have condemned the practice of massive forced labor carried out by the Chinese government against the Uighur minority.