Previously, 13 tons of hair were seized from a Chinese manufacturer which United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Officials state the confiscation is part of a broader and more expansive move to ultimately ending the alleged forced labor campaign China's government is conducting.
Forced labor shipment
According to the Wall Street Journal, last week, customs officials blocked the shipment that originated from Meixin Hair Product Co. located in Lop County after months of continuous investigation looking into the operations of both the manufacturer and the area it operates in.
The executive assistant commissioner of the Office of Trade, Brenda Smith, said the region of Xinjiang in the northwestern part of China is believed to have become the most aggressive forced labor investigation the CBP is conducting.
The customs official stated the confiscation of the hair products intimidated US importers. They are required to follow local rules and regulations and ensure that their operations are not imposing forced labor of any kind. Smith reassured that they are firmly spreading the message using their communications.
The investigations of the US Customs were fueled by China's conduct against its Muslim citizens for the past few years, which officials from the US believe have resulted in abuses to human rights.
The Chinese nation had previously built detention camps where it kept its Muslim Uighurs and other ethnic minorities without proper trials, says extensive study and research of several academic researchers and human-rights activists.
Denying the accusations
The Chinese embassy in Washington, however, called the accusations of Uighur mistreatment by the American government an international interference in domestic affairs and considered it a derogatory campaign meant to make the Chinese government appear malicious.
The agency reassured the rights of Chinese citizens and that of the Muslim Uighur population as written in the law. It also added the forced labor allegations of the US government were false and vindictive.
Last week, federal authorities seized a massive shipment of hair weaves and several beauty accessories that the agency suspected of being produced from human hair taken from prisoners the Chinese government locked up in detention camps, as reported by VOA News.
In an interview, officials from the agency revealed that they procured approximately 13 tons of hair products they estimated were worth around $800,000.
According to ABC News, Smith noted that the shipment and their production suggested a severe violation of human rights law. The detention order they placed was to ensure that the perpetrators received a clear and apparent message that the US will not tolerate inhumane methods in business chains.
The incident marks the second time this year the CBP has implemented its detention order on China over shipments of hair weaves as they have previously suspected the Asian nation of utilizing forced human labor to produce their products.
An Uighur American activist, Rushan Abbas, who believes her sister who is a medical doctor who went missing nearly two years ago in China and is allegedly locked up in one of the many detention camps the country has constructed, cautioned women who used hair weaves to be wary of where their product comes from.
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