Hair products may have come from labour camps

The United States has seized a shipment of hair products believed to have been taken from Muslim Uighurs held in Chinese labour camps. Customs and Border Protection said it had intercepted 13 tonnes of hair extensions, weaves and other products worth about $800,000 (NZ$1.2 million) on suspicion they had been made with slave labour. More than a million ethnic Uighurs and other Muslim minorities including Kazakhs are believed to be detained in the western Xinjiang province in what Beijing calls ‘‘re-education’’ camps. Activists label them ‘‘black factories’’ where internees make sportswear, beauty products and other clothing for export. The US said such production ‘‘constitutes a serious human rights violation’’. The Chinese government denies the claims of forced labour and announced in December that the camps had closed. Many families in Xinjiang say their relatives remain in detention in forced labour in factories. The US warned businesses yesterday about the ‘‘reputational, economic and legal risks’’ associated with supply chains that may be linked to mass detention, forced labour and forced sterilisation.