Today, June 21, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act ("UFLPA") comes into effect. It is the latest – and perhaps strongest – tool in the belt of U.S. regulatory and enforcement agencies to combat forced labor.
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Cambodia approved five investment projects worth over $20 million in the first two weeks of this month that are expected to create 3,706 jobs. Hong Menea
CDC signs off on over $20M in projects for April’s first half
Thu, 22 April 2021
Cambodia approved five investment projects worth over $20 million in the first two weeks of this month that are expected to create 3,706 jobs, according to a report from the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC).
The CDC gave the green light for final registration certificates to Vanzel Printing & Packaging (Cambodia) Co Ltd’s $2.1 million factory in Kandal province’s Kandal Stung district, Windmill-Fy (Cambodia) Garments Co Ltd's $2.5 million plant in Kampong Speu province’s Kong Pisei district and Sparkbags (Cambodia) Co Ltd's $3.3 million project in Phnom Penh’s Kambol district, which will provide 300, 848 and 718 jobs, respectively.
According to documentation seen by the Guardian, the order then went through a Chinese trading company before part of it was subcontracted to Dandong Huayang Textiles and Garments Co Ltd, a large garment factory in Dandong, which shares some of its orders with a branch factory. Both factories appear to be using workers from North Korea.
There is no indication that the DHSC or Unispace Global Ltd knew that North Korean labour could be present in its PPE supply chains.
Unispace Global Ltd did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the Guardian’s findings.
The shipment to the UK represents just a fraction of the PPE made by factories in Dandong which appears to use North Korean workers. In April 200,000 sterile coveralls landed in Bari, Italy, in boxes marked with Dandong Huayang’s distinctive branding. A distributor in South Africa advertised two million protective suits from the same company and smaller orders were found in the US, Germany, South Korea and Japan.