Uyghur Concentration Camps & Modern Slavery

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For several years there has been plenty of evidence circulating of Uyghur workers being transported to various facilities and concentration camps across the Xinjiang region.  The Uyghur people are of Turkic ethnicity, predominately Muslim, and are being transferred to “re-education” camps, systemically driving a state ideology while orchestrating forced labour.  The BBC released a huge cache of data hacked from police computer servers in the Xinjiang region.  Working with a consortium of 14 media organisations from 11 countries, the BBC has been able to authenticate significant elements of the Xinjiang police files.

The data cache reveals in detail, China’s use of “re-education” camps. The first signs of the Uyghur being detained in “re-education” was in 2016.  Since then, the United Nations have said there are credible reports of over one million Uyghurs being held in these ‘re-education’ camps in Xinjiang.  Uyghur activists stated that many have disappeared or been killed, and some have also been forced to work in factories.

Many Uyghurs who have left or been exiled from Xinjiang say they have lost all contact with their families in China.  The Chinese authorities released a statement saying the camps are “vocational training centres” and are vital to tackle religious extremism amongst the Uyghur however, there has been no credible evidence provided that these centres have had any impact on extremism or terrorism.

The Uyghurs inside the “training centres” are isolated inside a walled secure compound with security cameras and guards preventing escape.  They are not allowed to worship or cover their head and must also attend special classes in the evenings that force them to change their religious beliefs (according to former workers).

The Xinjiang Landscape and Supply Chains

Xinjiang is the gateway to the west on land from China.  It’s home to natural resources, 38% of coal reserves, 25% of petroleum and natural gas reserves compared to the rest of China.  It’s a pivotal piece of land for China.  Given the cultural differences from the Uyghur and the Chinese, it’s important for China to maintain tight control of Xinjiang and ensure Uyghur don’t seek to become separatists.

The Uyghurs look different to the ethnic majority of China, speak a different language and have different cultural views, more similar to that of neighbouring countries than compared to the rest of China and it’s because of this according to Sophie Richardson of Human Rights Watch, the Chinese central government has long regarded Uyghurs as disloyal.

Uyghur are making up one in five cotton garments.  20% of the world’s cotton comes from the Xinjiang region.  There are numerous companies profiting from this and the forced labour of the Uyghur people.  20% of the global apparel industry cotton supply is grown in the Uyghur region, the source of 84% of China’s output!

Zara as an example like almost all companies, claim to prohibit forced labour from their supply chain, yet offer no credible explanation as to how they do this.  Nike and H&M have recently faced backlash after warning of Uyghur forced labour in the cotton industry.

Sheffield Hallam University produced a report which maps the solar supply chain and evidentially demonstrates the extent of dependence on forced labour.  The report highlights

  • 11 companies engaged in forced labour transfers
  • 4 additional companies located within industrial parks that have accepted labour transfers
  • 90 Chinese and international companies whose supply chains are potentially implicated

UK Legislation and Policy Approaches

The UK Government Modern Slavery Statement explains the steps taken by the UK Government to identify, prevent and mitigate modern slavery in their operations and supply chain and how the UK Government is working with suppliers to improve their anti-slavery activity.  This follows the Modern Slavery Act 2015 which is the first piece of specific UK law to address modern slavery and is intended to provide assurance over organisational working practices to eliminate modern slavery both directly, in their supply chains and provide a defence for those forced into criminality and punishes those who commit relevant offences.

Uyghur forced labour in Xinjiang and UK value chains is a report by the House of Commons from March 2021.

‘Given the Government’s admission that the situation facing the Uyghur people in Xinjiang is harrowing and that international supply chains are likely to be complicit in the perpetuation of forced labour in the region, we are disappointed by the lack of meaningful action that has been taken in relation to these crimes.’

The UK has a comprehensive set of legal and policy obligations for private and public sector organisations to comply with, and hopefully these obligations will become more rigorous over time.  However, the broad and growing range of evidence (some of which we have shared today), United Nations reports, sector reports, various Government reports and statements show that either the legislative and policy frameworks do not go far enough, and/or they are not being adequately enforced.  Until this is resolved, all procurement and supply chain professionals should look deep into their supply chains and understand the risks they are taking by continuing support all types of modern slavery and seek to irradicate this as soon as possible.