"Japan Lawmakers Seek Probe of Carmaker Links to Xinjiang Abuses", 19 Mar 2024

A group of Japanese ruling party and opposition lawmakers are calling on the government to investigate links between carmakers and forced labor in the aluminum industry in Xinjiang, a region in northwestern China.

Human Rights Watch published a report earlier this year exposing global carmakers’ failure to minimize the risk of Uyghur forced labor being used in aluminum supply chains. The Diet members urged the Japanese government to provide “measures and alternatives” to tainted aluminum...

The group of lawmakers, called the Non-Partisan Parliamentary Association for Reconsidering Human Rights Diplomacy, was co-founded in 2021 by Shiori Kanno, a former parliamentarian, and Gen Nakatani, a ruling party lawmaker. The group is a rare outspoken voice within the Diet pushing the Japanese government to prioritize human rights in its foreign policy.

Specifically, Kanno has led the group to call for the introduction of a human rights sanctions law and a human rights due diligence law that would require companies to address rights violations in their supply chains...