- China used the work of the persecuted Uighurs to make personal protective equipment (PPE) that was later exported to the US and other countries, according to a new report by the New York Times.
- Many Chinese factories use a job program to recruit Uighur employees, The Times reported, which experts say is forced labor.
- China has detained at least a million Uighurs in detention camps, which it euphemistically calls “re-education” camps, and keeps the Uighurs under heavy surveillance.
- Previous reports have found that companies like Nike and Apple have also worked with vendors that use Uighur labor. The United States recently blacklisted those providers.
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China has sent personal protective equipment (PPE) from the US and other countries that were made through the work of the persecuted Uyghur Muslim minority, The New York Times reported.
The Times identified companies across China that use Uyghur labor to make PPE that is then exported to other countries.
An example cited by The Times was a shipment of face masks shipped to a medical supply company in the state of Georgia from a Chinese factory where more than 100 Uighurs were sent to work.
Some of those companies are using a government-backed labor program to send Uighurs to work in their factories, which experts say amounts to using them as forced labor.
Amy K. Lehr, director of human rights at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told The Times: “The rural poor who are working in factories do not go by choice.”
“These are coercive quotas that cause people to work in factories when they don’t want to, and that could be considered forced labor under international law.” Forced or compulsory labor is prohibited under international human rights law.
A medical worker with a face mask.
Romeo Ranoco / Reuters
China sees the program as an opportunity for Uighurs to improve their lives.
A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in the United States told The Times that the program helps “local residents overcome poverty through employment and live a full life.”
The Times, which examined photos, videos, government documents, satellite images and shipping data, and found that the number of PPE companies in China’s Xinjiang region, the heart of the Uyghur people, had increased from four before the pandemic to 51.
And 17 of them participate in the government’s Uighur labor program, although much of what they do is consumed in China, rather than exported abroad.
It is part of China’s broader persecution of Uighurs. The country has detained at least a million Uighurs in detention camps in what it euphemistically calls “re-education camps”, and subjected them to extreme surveillance.
Reports also say that ethnically Chinese men are sent to the homes of Uighur women whose husbands were sent to prison camps, and that these men often sleep in the same beds as they do. China is also reportedly ordering them to redecorate their homes to make them look more Chinese.
A man holds a poster during a demonstration to show support for the Uighurs at a protest in Hong Kong in December 2019.
Associated Press
Uyghur labor has been connected to other products exported to the United States.
The Associated Press reported in 2019 that a Chinese clothing factory was using cheap or free Uighur labor, prompting North Caroline Badger Sport, a sportswear company, to cut ties with the factory.
A March report from Australia’s Institute for Strategic Policy also said that Apple’s suppliers in China used the work of Uighurs who were forced to move and work in Chinese factories.
This month, the United States blacklisted 11 Chinese companies for their alleged links to human rights abuses against Uighurs. These included companies that supplied companies like Apple and Nike.
The Australian institute report also said Uyghur work was in the supply chain of companies like Nike, BMW and Amazon.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials seized a shipment of human hair extensions in early July believed to have been made in Xinjiang.
Trump moved in June to punish Chinese officials for the country’s treatment of Uighur Muslims.
The Chinese ambassador was confronted over the weekend with images purporting to show blindfolded Uighurs driven to trains in China. He said he can show a normal “transfer” of prisoners.
