U.S. blocks import of goods from five nations in rare anti-slavery crackdown
2 October 2019
The United States has blocked the import of goods suspected to have been made with forced labor from five countries...
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said it seized five different products this week based on information indicating the goods were made using slave labor overseas.
The items included rubber gloves made by a company in Malaysia, gold from artisanal mines in Democratic Republic of Congo, clothes produced by a firm in Xinjiang, China, diamonds from the Marange Diamond Fields in Zimbabwe, and bone black - charred animal bones - manufactured by a business in Brazil.
Under a 2016 law, it is illegal to import goods into the United States that are made entirely or in part by forced labor - which includes prison work, bonded labor and child labor...
...Prior to the latest crackdown, the CBP had issued seven detention orders since 2016, including chemical compounds, peeled garlic and toys from China and cotton from Turkmenistan.