Tuesday: Webinar on Uyghur Forced Labor and University Logo Apparel

Uyghur Forced Labor and University Logo Apparel

September 15, 2020
2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. ET

Dear colleagues,

We hope you can join us on Tuesday for our webinar on Uyghur Forced Labor and the WRC’s new guidance to licensees.

In this webinar, WRC Executive Director Scott Nova and Assistant Research Director Penelope Kyritsis will review the guidance to licensees in detail, discuss the implementation process for licensees, outline the means we will use to verify compliance, and answer questions universities have about these topics. For broader context, Amy Lehr of the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Nury Turkel of the Uyghur Human Rights Project will join Scott and Penelope in sharing information about cotton supply chains, the apparel industry’s response to the Uyghur human rights crisis, and the latest on pending restrictions by US Customs and Border Protection on Uyghur-produced goods entering the United States.

The event is free for WRC affiliates but requires registration; please register to receive the Zoom link.

The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) is the locus of a human rights catastrophe. The Chinese government is subjecting Uyghurs and other Turkic and Muslim peoples to arbitrary mass detention, forced sterilization, and systematic forced labor.

The XUAR is the source of 20% of the world’s cotton. This means 1 in 5 garments entering the US, including university apparel, may be tainted by forced labor.

The WRC has just issued guidance to licensees on the steps they must take to comply with university codes of conduct and ensure they are not putting university logos on garments made with forced labor.

During this webinar, the WRC will review the licensee guidance in detail, discuss the implementation process for licensees, outline the means we will use to verify compliance, and answer questions universities have about these topics. We will also share broader information about cotton supply chains and the apparel industry’s response to the Uyghur human rights crisis.

Join us to hear from WRC staff, an expert on cotton supply chains, and a Uyghur human rights advocate about the challenges that the XUAR human rights crisis poses for the collegiate supply chain and the steps we have asked licensees to take.