EU Adopts Regulation to Combat Forced Labor

The European Union enacted a significant law on Tuesday, November 19, aimed at prohibiting the sale of products made with forced labor, marking a crucial step in addressing human rights violations in global supply chains, Human Rights Watch reported.

The Forced Labor Regulation (FLR) mandates that all EU member states ban any goods produced, in whole or in part, through forced labor. This regulation is a response to alarming statistics from the International Labour Organization, which estimates that 17.3 million individuals are victims of forced labor in the private sector, with an additional 3.9 million subjected to state-imposed forced labor.

The regulation is designed to hold corporations accountable and incentivize them to eliminate forced labor from their operations. It will work alongside the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, which requires major companies to implement due diligence processes to identify and mitigate human rights abuses.

Effective enforcement of the FLR will necessitate enhanced investigative capacities within the European Commission and member states, particularly regarding high-risk regions like Xinjiang, Turkmenistan, and North Korea.

EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič has emphasized the need for a more assertive approach to address structural imbalances and unfair practices in trade, particularly with China.

The next European Commission should make sure the FLR will finally empower the EU to legally tackle this severe form of human rights violations, and the unfair business advantage it provides to all industries, including when it is state-imposed.