China compels Uyghurs to work in factories that supply Apple, BMW, Nike etc.
The China Project illustration by Derek Zheng
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute has published a new report titled “Uyghurs for sale.” This is what it finds:
The Chinese government has facilitated the mass transfer of Uyghur and other ethnic minority citizens from the far west region of Xinjiang to factories across the country.
Under conditions that strongly suggest forced labor, Uyghurs are working in factories that are in the supply chains of at least 83 well-known global brands in the technology, clothing and automotive sectors, including Apple, BMW, Gap, Huawei, Nike, Samsung, Sony and Volkswagen.
This report estimates that more than 80,000 Uyghurs were transferred out of Xinjiang to work in factories across China between 2017 and 2019, and some of them were sent directly from detention camps.
Many more have been transferred within Xinjiang in similar coercive labor schemes, as The China Project’s columnist Darren Byler has documented. For more on coerced labor for Uyghurs and the situation in Xinjiang, see:
- China compels Uighurs to work in shoe factory that supplies Nike / Washington Post
- How companies profit from forced labor in Xinjiang / The China Project
- Mass detentions, surveillance, and ethnic repression in China’s far west: the situation right now / The China Project
