In western China, there is alarming, increasingly irrefutable evidence that
mass-scale, state-sanctioned forced labor — particularly of Muslim Uyghurs —
is being used in farms and factories throughout the region. Dozens of
international brands have been
implicated,
including Nike, Gap, Amazon, The North Face,
Apple
and Fila, to name a few.
This is why, last month, a broad coalition of more than 180 labor rights groups,
NGOs and advocates put out a clear call to all
brands whose supply chains touch
the Uyghur regions: Immediately cut off all suppliers; as, due the region’s
inaccessibility, there is no way to know which ones are using forced
labor,
and which ones are not. This is unprecedented in its scope.
“We typically tell brands they need to stay and use that power to remedy the
situation. ... In this case, that’s not possible,” Penelope Kyritsis,
assistant director of research at the Workers Rights
Consortium, told Sustainable Brands™. “We
know that the repression is pervasive, extensive — even if we can’t get the full
picture or go there.”
The situation in the Uyghur regions of China has become increasingly worrying.
What started out as a digitally enhanced police
state
morphed into the largest system of concentration
camps
since World War II, housing perhaps as many as three million Uyghurs and other
mostly Turkic Muslim minorities. Alongside this is ongoing cultural
genocide;
as Mosques, cemeteries, shrines, and historic Uyghur
neighborhoods
have all been destroyed.
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Why is this happening? The history is
complex.
The Uyghurs are located thousands of miles from Beijing and have little in
common ethnically with the Han majority, sharing more culturally with their
brethren to the west — ethnic Kazakhs, Kygyz and Turkomen of Central
Asia. It was unfortunate history that led to this region being incorporated into
China after World War II, and the desire by Uyghurs to freely express their
culture and religion has led to occasional violence against ruling authorities.
This provided the cover for ruling Chinese authorities to embark on a campaign
of repression to
eliminate,
once and for all, the idea of Uyghurs as a distinct ethnic group.
“The Uyghur camps are one of the largest in human history, with the number of
incarcerated prisoners the largest since the second World War, clearly targeting
an ethnic minority,” says Johnson Ching-Yin Yeung, urgent appeal coordinator
& campaigner with the Clean Clothes Campaign.
It was only in late 2019 that evidence began to emerge that these camps were
also being used as labor forces for factories. In March of this year, a report
published by the Australia
Strategic Policy Institute (APSI), a think tank, put it all together. The
report dug into government and corporate documents to find clear evidence that
factories manufacturing products for Nike, adidas and Fila used
“watchtowers, barbed wire fences, and police guard boxes” to host Uyghur
prisoners. This is what led this coalition to come together.
“We hope the brands will respond to us in a timely manner, and respond
positively, because this is the right thing to do,” Yeung says. Together,
they’ve sent calls to action to every major global brand whose supply chains
extend into western China. “We believe that the brands are not going to defend
using suppliers who use forced labor. It’s time for them to commit to the
pledge, and show that they are willing to address these atrocities.”
Brands also need to explain what went wrong. Several mentioned in APSI’s report,
such as Nike, have strong
commitments against forced labor in their supply chains. Yet, despite evidence
of human rights suppression for years, they did not do enough to monitor or
investigate their suppliers.
Only now, after APSI’s report, investigative features from news outlets such as
The New York
Times
and a massive document leak
investigated by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
(the same group that investigated the Paradise and Panama papers) are brands and
companies finally looking into allegations. This is far too slow.
“This is partially a failure of the ways auditing works in China, and also how
brands are not being proactive in employing meaningful due diligence practices,”
Yeung said. “It is not impossible to know if there is forced labor in their
supply chain ... if companies have the will to actively look for it.”
There has been some action. adidas and Lacoste pledged to stop sourcing
yarn
from the Uyghur regions — a strong step forward. Kyritsis and Yeung are both
hopeful that the coming weeks will see more brands take similar, or even
stronger, action.
Unfortunately, just cutting suppliers from the Uyghurs regions may not be
enough, as there is increasing evidence that Uyghurs are being sent to work in
factories in other parts of
China. During the Covid-19 pandemic, which emerged in Wuhan, China, and forced
the entire Chinese economy to shut down for several weeks, Uyghurs were even
shipped in to replace other
workers and keep
factories running, including those making the face
masks
many are using around the world.
“Uyghurs forced labor is not confined to the Uyghur region,” Yeung said. “This
makes things even more complicated; as it's really hard to trace where Uyghur
forced labor goes, and how long they stay in one factory or plant.” It may
require an even bigger response, where brands need to reconsider sourcing
anything at all from China.
For Uyghurs trapped in camps, or in forced labor situations, brands cutting off
their suppliers now would be little comfort. But anything that puts pressure on
Chinese authorities to end their campaign of repression is welcome — even if it
is late. State-sanctioned camps, forced labor and cultural genocide are
something no company should be involved with, directly or indirectly.
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Media, Campaign and Research Consultant
Nithin is a freelance writer who focuses on global economic, and environmental issues with an aim at building channels of communication and collaboration around common challenges.
Published Aug 31, 2020 8am EDT / 5am PDT / 1pm BST / 2pm CEST