The US Department of Homeland Security, DHS on Wednesday banned imports from a Chinese mining company that has made important investments in Serbia over alleged human-rights abuses.
It added Zijin Mining Group to a US blacklist under the terms of the Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act.
The DHS said Zijin and its three subsidiaries in the Xinjiang region in China work with China’s authorities to recruit, transport, transfer, harbour, or receive ethnic minority workers such as Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and Kyrgyz.
The US is among several countries that have accused China of committing large-scale human rights violations in its repression of minority Uyghurs, most of whom are Muslims. Beijing strongly denies the allegations.
On Tuesday, a record 37 entities were added to the Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act blacklist, marking the largest single expansion of the list to date.
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said that with the sanctions, the US is demonstrating “our relentless fight against the cruelty of forced labour, our unwavering commitment to basic human rights, and our tireless defense of a free, fair, and competitive market”.
Among the entities added were cotton sector companies, such as Huafu Fashion, and green energy entities, such as Donghai JA Solar Technology and Hongyuan Green Energy Co.
Zijin entered Serbia in 2018, paying $350 million to recapitalise the country’s RTB Bor copper mine and pledging to invest $1.26 billion over the following six years in return for a 63-per-cent stake.
In 2021, it began operating in another copper-gold mine at Cukaru Peki, increasing its capacity to 10,000 tonnes per day, or 3.65 million tonnes per year.
Zijin’s subsidiaries in Serbia did not reply to BIRN’s queries about the US ban.
The Department of Homeland Security-led Forced Labour Enforcement Task Force has over three years targeted early 150 companies benefiting from forced labour, banning them from exporting to the US.
A BIRN investigation in January 2021 revealed that Chinese workers at Zijin’s copper mine in Serbia experienced serious apparent violations to their rights, including restrictions on their movements, 12-hour workdays, and even having to hand over their passports.
A video obtained by BIRN from inside their accommodation showed small rooms packed with bunk beds for 10 people. Workers complained to BIRN of working 84-hour weeks, of wages arriving late, of restricted movements and inadequate work clothing. Some said they had signed blank contracts and handed over their passports.
Under the terms of a 2018 bilateral deal, Serbia suspended its labour law for Chinese nationals working in Serbia, meaning the Labour Inspectorate had no right to review their contracts or check whether they had been paid. A 2018 Law on Confirmation of Agreement on Social Security with China made only Chinese labour law applicable to Chinese migrant workers in Serbia for the first five years of their stay.
Chinese nationals account for almost 30 per cent of the foreign workers in Serbia, numbering 3,148 in 2019. In 2023, the Labour Inspectorate counted 5.952 workers from China during controls.