The No Funds for Forced Labour Act, a bill presented by US Senators Jeff Merkley and Marco Rubio, aims to stop US tax funds from funding overseas projects that use forced labour, especially in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).
Under the proposed No Funds for Forced Labour Act, US executive directors at foreign financial institutions would have to be instructed by the US Secretary of Treasury to refuse funds for projects that could involve the use of forced labour.
Making sure that projects in XUAR, where reports of forced labour of Uyghurs and other minority groups have surfaced, are fully reviewed is one of the bill’s main goals.
The Act would also:
Compel these institutions to provide an explanation of how they screen projects for risks related to forced labour and the steps they take to reduce, monitor, and reverse that risk; and compel a Treasury report to be submitted within a year and then every year for the following five years, detailing any project that an international financial institution has approved and outlining the steps taken by the executive director of each institution to persuade other nations to oppose any project that may involve the use of forced labour.
