British court considers demands of Muslim minority to ban Xinjiang cotton

A Uyghur organization and human rights group are suing the UK government to challenge Britain’s failure to prevent the import of cotton products linked to forced labor and other abuses in China’s far western region of Xinjiang.

 Tuesday’s hearing in London’s High Court is believed to be the first time a foreign court has heard legal arguments from Uyghurs over the issue of forced labor in Xinjiang.

Uyghurs work in a textile factory in Korla, China’s Xinjiang Autonomous Region.

 Xinjiang is a major global supplier of cotton, but rights groups have long reported that cotton is picked and processed by Chinese Uyghurs and other Turkish Muslim minorities in a widespread state-sanctioned system of forced labor.

 The case, brought by the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress and the Global Legal Action Network, a non-profit organization, is one of several similar legal challenges aimed at pressuring UK and EU governments to follow suit the US, where a law went into effect this year to ban all cotton products made in Xinjiang.