{"id":1749,"date":"2020-03-10T20:19:02","date_gmt":"2020-03-10T20:19:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/?p=1749"},"modified":"2020-03-10T20:21:37","modified_gmt":"2020-03-10T20:21:37","slug":"how-much-of-your-stuff-is-linked-to-forced-uighur-labour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/?p=1749","title":{"rendered":"How much of your stuff is linked to forced Uighur labour?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Comment: Big brands must be held responsible for forced Uighur labour, no matter how far down their supply chain, writes Tasnim Nazeer.<\/div>\n
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A new\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0conducted by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (APSI) has revealed harrowing evidence of China’s exploitation of Uighur Muslims, including their transfer to factories across the country to carry out forced labour for foreign brands.<\/p>\n

The report, entitled “Uyghurs for Sale” estimates that more than\u00a080,000<\/a>\u00a0Uighurs were transferred out of Xinjiang to\u00a0work in factories<\/a>\u00a0between 2017 and 2019, some sent directly from detention camps. China reportedly created a central government policy known as ‘Xinjiang Aid’, which assigned Uighur Muslims to factories through their labour transfer programmes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Researchers at APSI used open-source technology and satellite imagery to identify\u00a083 well-known<\/a>\u00a0global consumer brands linked to factories where Uighur Muslims are thought to be working under forced labour conditions.<\/p>\n

Many major brands such as Apple, Adidas and Nike have been\u00a0implicated<\/a>\u00a0in the report, with some saying they are investigating the claims, and others saying they were unaware this had occurred.<\/p>\n

Nike told the\u00a0Washington Post<\/em>\u00a0it was “committed to upholding international labour standards globally” and that its suppliers were “strictly prohibited from using any type of prison, forced, bonded or indentured labour.” The BBC reported that Apple had said it was “dedicated to ensuring that everyone in our supply chain is treated with the dignity and respect they deserve”.<\/p>\n

While these brands might reaffirm their commitment to ensuring the safety of Uighur Muslims, questions over accountability in global supply chains must be raised. If Uighurs were being transferred out of Xinjiang as early as 2017, how could global brands not know that it was occurring, and why haven’t there been investigations into the identity of factory labourers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\nChina reportedly created a central government policy which assigned Uighur Muslims to factories through their labour transfer programmes<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Global brands including Adidas, Bosch and Panasonic\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0ASPI that they had “no direct contractual relationships with the suppliers indicated in the report, but no one could rule out a link further down their supply chain”.<\/p>\n

This excuse is unacceptable.<\/p>\n

Global brands should inform themselves of the Chinese government’s behaviour, and provide measures to ensure that Uighur Muslims are not being sold as pawns to be used in inhumane practices, such as forced labour.<\/p>\n

Many of the Uighur Muslims labouring in these Chinese factories are working in\u00a0prison<\/a>-style conditions, surrounded by barbed wire and police guards. Uighur Muslims are under constant\u00a0surveillance<\/a>\u00a0by the Chinese government, making it difficult for them to refuse being sent out to work, fearing arbitrary detention or worse.<\/p>\n

It is the duty of the brands implicated in the report to investigate these allegations of human rights violations with their suppliers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The New Arab<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u2714<\/b><\/span><\/span>@The_NewArab<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cStop Uighur internment camps or take the Olympics away from #<\/span>China<\/span><\/a>\u201c writes @<\/span>Narjas_Zatat<\/span><\/a> https:\/\/www.<\/span>alaraby.co.uk\/english\/indepth\/2020\/1\/8\/stop-uighur-internment-camps-or-take-olympics-from-china\u00a0<\/span>\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n

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Stop Uighur internment camps or take the Olympics away from China<\/h2>\n

As China gears up to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, the country…<\/p>\n

alaraby.co.uk<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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650<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

12:50 PM – Jan 11, 2020<\/a><\/div>\n
Twitter Ads info and privacy<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The report by APSI documented how companies using forced Uighur labour in their supply chains could find themselves in breach of laws which prohibit the importation of goods made with forced labour, or mandate disclosure of forced labour supply chain risks.<\/p>\n

This revelation comes in the wake of another\u00a0leak<\/a>\u00a0which revealed a database exposing excuses made by China for the detention of hundreds of Uighur Muslims in\u00a0Karakax<\/a>\u00a0County, in Xinjiang. This database showed evidence that Uighur Muslims were forced into “re-education” camps for being “visibly Muslim” – having a beard or wearing the headscarf. Confirmation, if ever it were needed, that the Chinese government is attempting to ethnically cleanse Uighur Muslims.<\/p>\n

Source:https:\/\/www.alaraby.co.uk\/english\/comment\/2020\/3\/10\/uighurs-for-sale<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Comment: Big brands must be held responsible for forced Uighur labour, no matter how far down their supply chain, writes Tasnim Nazeer. A new\u00a0report\u00a0conducted by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (APSI) has revealed harrowing evidence of China’s exploitation of Uighur Muslims, including their transfer to factories across the country to carry out forced labour for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101020,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chinas-uyghur-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/101020"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1749"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1751,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1749\/revisions\/1751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}