Xinjiang: more than half a million forced to pick cotton, report suggests

[ansible]

More than half a million people from ethnic minority groups in Xinjiang have been coerced into picking cotton, on a scale far greater than previously thought, new research has suggested.

The Xinjiang region produces more than 20% of the world’s cotton and 84% of China’s, but according to a new report released on Tuesday by the Center for Global Policy there is significant evidence that it is “tainted” by human rights abuses, including suspected forced labour of Uighur and other Turkic Muslim minority people.

The revelations came as the international criminal court (ICC) said it did not have the jurisdiction to investigate allegations of crimes against humanity and genocide in Xinjiang.

This year the US imposed sanctions and cotton import restrictions on suppliers controlled by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) – a paramilitary production entity which produces a third of Xinjiang’s cotton – over human rights concerns. But according to the report, those concerns extend beyond the XPCC to the whole region. It recommended the US government expand its import restrictions to cover all Xinjiang cotton, not just that produced by XPCC regions.

The report – written by Adrian Zenz, an independent researcher specialising in Xinjiang and Tibet – analysed government documents and state media reports to determine it was likely authorities were using the allegedly coercive “labour transfer programs” to provide hundreds of thousands of workers to pick cotton.

China’s labour transfer scheme is purported to be part of the government’s massive poverty alleviation campaign, but growing evidence indicates it targets Uighur and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang and coerces participation.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/15/xinjiang-china-more-than-half-a-million-forced-to-pick-cotton-report-finds

[jpak]

1. And Trump is AOK with it

Yup

[ck4829]

2. Disgusting.

[Hortensis]

3. Uyghurs alone have been "labor transferred" all over China to wherever

labor is needed. It's probable that many of us will give and receive gifts with what seemingly amounts to Chinese forced labor in their production chain.

We have national and international laws banning that, of course, but violations always occur before identification, investigation, resolution of legal issues at all levels, negotiations, etc, then application of the laws against our companies doing business with China. Which themselves have to realize what's happening before they can take measures to remain within the law.