Nonprofit Asks US to Sanction Chinese Companies for Forced Labor

A nonprofit is asking the Treasury Department to sanction seven Chinese companies after its reporting revealed their alleged ties to forced labor in China’s seafood industry (see 2310100030). The Outlaw Ocean Project, a Washington-based investigative journalism non-profit, said it submitted a petition to Treasury calling for human rights sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act against the seven companies and their affiliates, who are “complicit in serious human rights abuses” against Xinjiang workers.

Those companies are:

• Yantai Sanko Fisheries
• Yantai Longwin Foods
• The Chishan Group and affiliates Shandong Haidu and Rongcheng Haibo
• Shandong Meijia Group and affiliates Rizhao Meijia Aquatic Foodstuff
• Rizhao Jiayuan Foodstuff and Rizhao Meijia Keyuan Foods
• Qingdao Tianyuan Aquatic Foodstuffs
• Rongsense Group and affiliates Rizhao Rirong Aquatic Products, Rizhao Rongxing and Xinjiang Zhongtai Zhihui Modern Service.

The Outlaw Ocean Project declined to provide a copy of the petition, saying in a Jan. 11 email that it has been advised by Treasury that “the chances of a successful petition are much greater if the petitions are not made public.” A Treasury spokesperson didn’t comment.

The group said other non-governmental organizations, including the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project and the Human Rights Action Group, have asked Canada to sanction those same companies for forced labor.