The US Senate has voted in favour of a legislation that would ban products imported from China’s Xinjiang region, reports AFP. The move is to pressurise Beijing over what Washington says are major human rights abuses against the Muslim Uyghur community.

The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act was passed in the upper chamber by unanimous consent on late Wednesday. It will bar the import of products made through forced labour, which is allegedly being used in the northwestern Chinese region.

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Republican Senator Marco Rubio said this will give a clear message to Beijing and any international company that profits from forced labor in Xinjiang. “We will not turn a blind eye to the CCP’s (Chinese Communist Party’s) ongoing crimes against humanity, and we will not allow corporations a free pass to profit from those horrific abuses.”

The legislation will now head to the House of Representatives, which must pass it if it is to reach President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature.

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Last week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken met survivors of Xinjiang internment camps in Washington and the United States has already taken action against China over Xinjiang.

Washington banned imports of solar panel materials from a Chinese company and placed trade restrictions on four others for alleged use of forced labour in the region.

Rights groups believe at least one million Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim minorities have been incarcerated in camps in Xinjiang, where China is also accused of forcibly sterilising women and imposing forced labour.

Beijing has denied all allegations of abuses and has insisted its policies in Xinjiang are necessary to counter violent extremism.

The legislation calls for the distribution of guidance to importers regarding “effective supply chain tracing” and other due diligence actions to prevent the import of products made through forced labour.

It also directs the US Customs and Border Protection and other government departments to draw up plans for preventing such imports, and for identifying the facilities, companies or persons involved in forced or involuntary labour.