China: Renewed calls for action on forced labour in Uyghur region as fresh evidence emerges

Source: CSW

CSW has renewed its call for companies to ensure that they are not complicit in the use of forced labour in the Uyghur region, following fresh evidence of abuses underway in the region.

A new report by Dr Adrian Zenz, published by the Center for Global Policy on 14 December, and covered separately by the BBC as part of their own investigation, provides new evidence of labour "coercion" specifically in relation to cotton picking in China's Uyghur Region.

The report follows extensive research by human rights and labour groups, academics and media into allegations of forced labour of Uyghurs and other Muslim-majority ethnic groups in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (the Uyghur Region).

According to Dr Zenz, who is known for his extensive work on mass arbitrary detention in the Uyghur region, the findings of the new report "have much wider implications, affecting all supply chains that involve Xinjiang cotton as a raw material." In the report he describes the way labour transfers involve "coercive mobilization through local work teams, transfers of pickers in tightly supervised groups, and intrusive on-site surveillance by government officials and (in at least some cases) police officers. Government supervision teams monitor pickers, checking that they have a 'stable' state of mind, and administer political indoctrination sessions."

Zenz contends that the government's objectives are not only economic: "A key goal is to keep minorities occupied and surveilled." He also notes that coercion increased when Chen Quanguo became Xinjiang's party secretary in August 2016. Under Chen, over one million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in the Uyghur Region have been arbitrarily detained in so-called re-education camps where torture and ill-treatment are rife.

The BBC report, 'Tainted Cotton' which also came out this week, highlights "the parallel purpose of mass employment and mass internment", pointing out that in many cases there are factories within the walls of the camps, or close by.

On 15 December, the UK Foreign Affairs Committee held an inquiry into detentions in the region. During the inquiry, the committee heard expert testimony from the President of the World Uyghur Congress, Dolkun Isa; the Chair of the Bar Human Rights Committee, Schona Jolly QC; the UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism, Professor Fionnuala Ní Aolaín; and Commissioner Nury Turkel of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.

CSW's Public Affairs Team Leader Kiri Kankhwende said: "CSW is alarmed but not surprised by new evidence of the Chinese authorities' extensive use of forced labour in the Uyghur region. The transportation of people for forced labour doesn't just take them away from their families and communities - it also cuts them off from their culture and religion. Add to this credible reports of detainees being forced to renounce their faith in camps where normal religious practice is already impossible and it is clear that the right to freedom of religion or belief, as well as numerous other rights, are being routinely and severely supressed in this region. We continue to call on companies to take these concerns seriously by ensuring that they are not complicit in the use of forced labour in the Uyghur region, or indeed anywhere. We also urge the UK government, and the wider international community, to support efforts to establish an independent UN mechanism to enable scrutiny of the human rights situation in the Uyghur region."

In a separate development, on 16 December the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders Ms Mary Lawlor raised serious concerns about the recent arrest of lawyer Chang Weiping, who was detained on 22 October after posting a video describing the torture and ill-treatment he was subjected to during a previous period of detention: "Fundamental human rights are not a threat to any Government or society, and neither are the individuals who defend those rights. I urge the Chinese authorities to release at once Chang Weiping and all other detained and disappeared human rights defenders."

LINKS

BBC Report Tainted Cotton - www.bbc.co.uk/news/extra/nz0g306v8c/china-tainted-cotton
UK Foreign Affairs Committee inquiry - https://parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/f2ff3123-7246-4237-b024-2dba700d219b
CSW - www.csw.org.uk