{"id":29332,"date":"2020-12-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-16T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csw-yeo.1wp.site\/press\/renewed-calls-for-action-on-forced-labour-in-uyghur-region-as-further-4919\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T19:00:42","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T18:00:42","slug":"renewed-calls-for-action-on-forced-labour-in-uyghur-region-as-further-4919","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/press\/renewed-calls-for-action-on-forced-labour-in-uyghur-region-as-further-4919\/","title":{"rendered":"Renewed calls for action on forced labour in Uyghur region as further evidence emerges"},"content":{"rendered":"
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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.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new report<\/a> by Dr. Adrian Zenz, published by the Center for Global Policy on 14 December, and covered separately<\/a> by the BBC as part of their own investigation, provides new evidence of labour \u201ccoercion\u201d specifically in relation to cotton picking in China\u2019s Uyghur Region.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report follows<\/span>extensive research<\/span><\/a> 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).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 \u201chave much wider implications, affecting all supply chains that involve Xinjiang cotton as a raw material.\u201d In the report he describes the way labour transfers involve \u201ccoercive 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 \u2018stable\u2019 state of mind, and administer political indoctrination sessions.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zenz contends that the government\u2019s objectives are not only economic: \u201c<\/span>A key goal is to keep minorities occupied and surveilled.\u201d He also notes that coercion increased when Chen Quanguo became Xinjiang\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BBC report<\/a>, which also came out this week, highlights \u201cthe parallel purpose of mass employment and mass internment\u201d, pointing out that in many cases there are factories within the walls of the camps, or close by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 15 December, the UK Foreign Affairs Committee held an inquiry<\/a> 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 N\u00ed Aola\u00edn; and Commissioner Nury Turkel of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CSW\u2019s Public Affairs Team Leader Kiri Kankhwende said: \u201cCSW is alarmed but not surprised by new evidence of the Chinese authorities\u2019 extensive use of forced labour in the Uyghur region. The transportation of people for forced labour doesn\u2019t 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<\/i><\/b>efforts<\/i><\/b><\/a> to establish an independent UN mechanism to enable scrutiny of the human rights situation in the Uyghur region.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a separate development, on 16 December the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders Ms Mary Lawlor raised serious concerns<\/a> 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: \u201cFundamental 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.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":43469,"template":"","categories":[],"regions":[131,128],"class_list":["post-29332","press","type-press","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","regions-china","regions-east-asia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39916,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29332\/revisions\/39916"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29332"},{"taxonomy":"regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions?post=29332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}