Webinar: Is Your Car Driving Uyghur Forced Labor - Automotive supply chains and forced labor in the Uyghur region (2023)
Over 91.15% of American households own at least one car according to the US Census Bureau, and if your car was manufactured after 2018, it was made with Uyghur forced labor.
Our webinar discussed the report: Driving Force: Automotive Supply Chains and Forced Labor in the Uyghur Region that found that there are over 30,000 parts of a car and every single part, from the mining of raw materials such as lithium and bauxite to sensors, is at risk of being made with Uyghur forced labor.
Dr. Laura Murphy and the authors of the Driving Force Report will discuss supply chain tracing of Uyghur forced labor in the automotive sector. This Report released in December 2022, exposed over 100 automotive companies' use and the industry’s reliance on Uyghur forced labor. This is the seventh report from the Sheffield University Hallam on Uyghur forced labor in global supply chains, which includes reports on the cotton and solar supply chains.
Questions to be discussed include:
- How is the automotive industry reliant on Uyghur forced labor?
- What companies are exposed and how are inputs from the Uyghur Region being obscured in supply chains?
- How can the automotive / steel industry end its reliance on Uyghur forced labor and move to source and manufacture out of this region?
- If companies are unable/unwilling to conduct human rights due diligence for full supply chain tracing, what is the role of investors in the absence of relevant legislation?
- How can investors get involved in addressing Uyghur forced labor risks in their portfolio?
Our expert panelists include:
- Dr. Laura Murphy, Professor of Human Rights & Contemporary Slavery at Sheffield Hallam University Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice;
- Yalkun Uluyol, Ph.D. Candidate at Koç University; Researcher, Sheffield Hallam University Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice;
- Jewher Ilham, Uyghur Human Rights Activist and Spokesperson for the End Uyghur Forced Labor Coalition;
- Aaron Acosta, Senior Program Associate at the Investor Advocates for Social Justice;
- Dr. Kendyl Salcito, Executive Director of NomoGaia, a non-profit research organization on business and human rights;
- Mia Rabkin, Researcher with the Sheffield Hallam University Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice; and
- Matthew Groch, Senior Manager, Mighty Earth,
moderated by Anita Dorett, Director of the Investor Alliance for Human Rights.
You can watch the recording of the webinar and access the slides deck used on the webinar in the links below.