Source: www.ChinaAid.org
Date: March 5, 2021
Cotton growing in field, used in manufacturing clothing, including jeans.
(Photo: Compilation from Flickr/Rockin Robin; Running with Scissors)
(ChinaAid—March 05, 2021) As the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) arbitrarily detains an estimated minimum 1 million to 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Turkic and Muslim individuals in mass detention, authorities "enslave" and force Uyghurs to produce goods that sell throughout the world. The Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region launch the Call to Action which "calls" brands and retailers to denounce ties with suppliers who support China's forced labor system. To prevent and help eradicate China's use of forced labor of Uyghurs and other groups in other facilities, we call brands and retailers to "exit the Uyghur Region at every level of their supply chain, from cotton to finished products...."
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) perpetrates mass human rights abuses enslaving Uyghurs, as well as Turkic and Muslim people in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (Uyghur Region) in Western China. Documented abuses include:
- mass surveillance,
- arbitrary detention, rape, torture,
- political “re-education,”
- forced sterilisations, and
- forced labour.
China produces the following 17 products using forced labor:
Artificial Flowers, Bricks, Christmas Decorations, Coal, Cotton, Electronics, Fireworks, Fish*, Footwear, Garments, Gloves*†, Hair Products*†, Nails, Textiles*†, Thread/Yarn*†, Tomato Products*†, Toys
Bureau of National Labor Affairs reports:
The People's Republic of China has arbitrarily detained more than one million Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim minorities in China's far western Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. (1) It is estimated that 100,000 Uyghurs and other ethnic minority ex-detainees in China may be working in conditions of forced labor following detention in re-education camps. (2) Many more rural poor workers also may experience coercion without detention. (3; 4) China has been included on the List of Goods Produced by Child Labor of Forced Labor (TVPRA List) since 2009. This year, the Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) is adding five goods produced by forced labor by Muslim minorities in China to the 2020 edition of the TVPRA List. These goods include gloves, hair products, textiles, thread/yarn, and tomato products.
...Uyghurs are forced to work in factories in the Uyghur Region and across China that produce goods sold all over the world. The Uyghur Region is also a global hub for cotton growing and manufacturing, producing cotton and cotton products produced with forced labour from field to factory. Numerous other products are implicated, from solar panels to electronics. However, since up to 1 in 5 of all cotton products around the world may be tainted with Uyghur forced labour, the likelihood of links to fashion and home-furnishing industries is particularly high.
The full open letter the Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region launched:
*=Additions to the List in 2020
†=Goods from China produced by forced labor by Muslim minorities, including Uyghurs
ChinaAid, one of the signatories endorsing the Call to Action, not only calls for brands and retailers, but also encourages individuals to denounce those businesses who profit from China's forced labor system.
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The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
Because the Lord has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
~ Isaiah 61:1 (NKJV)
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