FORCED LABOR
Oslo Freedom Forum, 2022
In All Static & Noise, you meet the Uyghur Transitional Justice Database team in their office as they show Jewher satellite imagery and documentation of forced labor in the Uyghur Region. In addition to advocating for the release of her father, Jewher is focused on ending the use of forced labor in the Uyghur Region in her position at the Workers Rights Consortium and her role as a spokersperson with the Coalition to End Forced Labor in the Uyghur Region.
In a situation as dire as that which is happening among Uyghur and other ethnic groups in China, people often ask what can I do to help? We believe that a solution to this horrific problem requires multiple actors - government, business, and individual consumers. It is no different than the type of broad collaboration required to address other problems with global impact, such as climate change. As we rely on innovation, cooperation among nations, and individual behavior change to remedy the environmental crisis that looms, we need to consider the human element in our sustainability practices.
One of the great challenges of exposing the use of forced labor among Uyghur and other ethnic groups has been the inability for businesses and governments to conduct credible audits of their supply chains in China. This is one of the main reasons that the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) in the U.S. carries a “rebuttable presumption” clause, meaning the onus is on the importer, not to import any good with any links to the Uyghur Region unless it provides clear and convincing evidence that goods are not tainted with forced labor from the Uyghur Region. Pressure is on for other countries to adopt similar legislation.
Ignorance is no longer an excuse, given the availability of credible evidence that documents the use of forced labor in the Uyghur Region and the practice of transporting Uyghur and other ethnic minorities to other parts of China in the government’s “Labor Transfer Program.” Researcher Adrian Zenz, with reference to Chinese government documents, exposed different levels of coercive labor practices that serve as “stability maintenance programs” for “de-extremification” and “transforming people’s minds” in a spirit of “poverty alleviation” in this article. Amy Lehr and Efthimia Maria from the Center for Strategic & International Studies connected forced labor in the Uyghur Region with Western supply chains and consumers in this report. The Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS) took the analysis a step further in their Long Shadows report to show how the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), a very powerful paramilitary body in the region is able to access international markets through subsidiary companies located in Russia and Central Asia. XPCC was sanctioned by the United States in 2020 for their alleged human rights abuses and it seems they have figured out how to get around these sanctions through willing third parties. The use of subsidiary companies to hide the importation of goods from sanctioned companies is not unique to the XPCC. Dr. Laura Murphy and her team at the Helena Kennedy Center, Sheffield Hallam University have done excellent reporting on specific industries - Cotton, Vinyl Flooring, Solar Industry, and Automotive. In Uyghurs for Sale, the Australian Strategic Policy Instiute reports on the use of Uyghur forced labor beyond the Uyghur Region.
For those of you who are looking for ways to become more responsible consumers, check the Call to Action section on the Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region’s site to see the actions businesses must take to clean up their supply chains and ensure that they are not selling products tainted with Uyghur forced labor anywhere in the world. Are you supporting ethical business with your consumption and investment choices? In the US, if someone imports products for less than $800, they don’t have to pay duties or file paperwork with Customs and Border Protection. Major multinational corporations appear to be trying to use their direct-to-consumer online sales as a way to attempt to avoid compliance with the UFLPA. Watch out from whom you buy online. This useful chrome extension will mark products at risk of being tainted with Uyghur forced labor in your shopping carts. Jewish World Watch has developed this Uyghur Forced Labor Database to help you identify which companies may be relying on forced labor from the Uyghur Region.
As IIham Tohti often told Jewher, every problem has a solution. Join us in being part of the solution.