Glasgow council is being urged to avoid buying solar panels which use materials made under forced labour by Uyghur Muslims in China.
Cllr Soryia Siddique, the city’s Labour group deputy leader, wants the council to update its procurement policies and work with firms to improve their supply chains.
Research has shown that 45% of polysilicon — a key component of solar panels, which are in high demand due to climate change — is produced in the Uyghur region.
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A report from Sheffield Hallam University, in May 2021, stated “labour transfers are deployed in the Uyghur region within an environment of unprecedented coercion, undergirded by the constant threat of re-education and internment”.
Cllr Siddique is hoping to present a motion to a full council meeting on Thursday, which would ask officials to produce a report on how “a responsible Uyghur forced labour policy” could be introduced into its procurement strategy.
It would also call for engagement with partners, including the Stop Uyghur Genocide campaign, on an improvement plan and talks with suppliers over their supply chains.
“It’s often easier to simply complain about human rights abuses than to take action against them,” the Southside Central councillor said. “You have to do both.
“As Scotland’s largest local authority, we have an opportunity to embed green and humanitarian clauses in our procurement policies locally, nationally and internationally.”
China has been been accused of committing crimes against humanity and possibly genocide against Uyghurs, a Turkic, majority Muslim people, in northwest of the country.
Human rights groups have reported Uyghurs have faced mass imprisonment, torture and persecution.
In her planned motion, Cllr Siddique stated experts have indicated as much as 97% of solar panels could contain materials made by millions of Uyghur forced labourers.
Solar power is “an important strand of Glasgow’s work to tackle the climate emergency”, she added, but “without putting in place the appropriate safeguards there is a significant risk of purchasing solar panels from suppliers that are very likely to have forced labour in their supply chain”.
Cllr Siddique would ask councillors to agree that they believe the council should have “sufficient measures in place to ensure their responsible procurement strategy tackles the problem of forced labour-made panels” within a year.
They would also be asked to support reviewing existing practice around contracts to insert forced labour specific clauses.
“An ethical procurement policy is an important opportunity to send a strong message of solidarity in action with workers and oppressed communities across the world,” Cllr Siddique said.
“It does surprise me that there isn’t more international attention regarding the treatment of Uyghurs. Considering international humanitarian organisations have raised concerns regarding the mass torture, mass surveillance of Muslim minority men and women.”
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