Sanctioning a Giant: A Case for the Uyghurs
Sanctioning a Giant: A Case for the Uyghurs
As dystopian as it may sound, there are some parts of the world where forced labor is still relevant and practiced today. One such case is that of the Uyghur minority of China. On 31st August 2022, the UN’s OHCHR released a document detailing human rights violations in Xinjiang. In 2018, the UN made the first account of an increase in missing people from the Muslim minority group in the Xinjiang province. Since then, the UN has made multiple reports about Xinjiang “re-education camps”, where reports of torture and malicious treatment of the minorities were also reported by various NGO’s and think tanks globally.
The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, also called XUAR, is home to approximately 12 million Uyghurs who are mostly Muslims. The Uyghurs have closer proximity in language and culture to Central Asian countries than to China. Allegedly, a pattern of migration of the Han Chinese, the ethnic majority of China, has occurred in XUAR. This pattern is China’s way of diluting the Muslim presence in the province. These allegations are supported by instances of prohibition of Muslim practices and shutting down of mosques in the province.
Forced Labor in Xinjiang
The world was taken aback after the alarming satellite images of Chinese “vocational camps” surfaced in 2018. The images showed a comparison between the years 2015, 2018, and 2020. The camps have dramatically spread over the past few years. Along with political “re-education”, mass disappearances, forced detainment, and mass sterilization of Uyghur women, this ethnic minority group has been forced into labor for the past several years. In fact, China was added to the “List of Good Produced by Child Labor and Forced Labor” (TVPRA List) in 2009, which included 12 goods in total. In 2020, a further addition of five goods produced through forced labor and child labor were added by the International Labor Affairs (ILAB) to the TVPRA list. It has been determined that most of the forced labor is done through Muslim minorities in Xinjiang province, but some Muslim groups have also been sent to camps around different parts of China. However, despite growing evidence of these camps, it is hard to identify forced labor in Xinjiang. This is because most of the detainees who are released do not share information due to fear of harassment, forced detention, disappearance, and in some cases, death at the hands of the Chinese government. Since they are detention camps, labor audits are far from becoming a reality. Secondly, the Chinese government has been defending such forms of employment under the guise of their “rural poverty alleviation” program.
As a response to the recent document released by the UN, the Chinese government released a 139-page rebuttal document, titled “Fight against Terrorism and Extremism in Xinjiang: Truth and Facts”, supporting their country’s policies for the ethnic minorities. According to the document, the Chinese government has condemned UN response and highlighted their efforts to curb extremism and terrorism in the region. The Chinese government has also accused the international community of slandering the Chinese image and interfering in internal matters of China. Further, under the fifth heading of the document, the Chinese government has stated that the employment is protected by Chinese laws and laws codified under international conventions such as Constitution of Labor Organization. Additionally, it highlights equal employment opportunities for all minority groups which includes labor contracts based on equal rights and consent. The Chinese government has also highlighted alleviating 1.058 million people out of poverty in 2020, along with a per capita income of 30,000 yuan (per capita income of other regions in China is 40,000 yuan).
However, these “facts” are hard to justify. According to a report released by the CSIS in 2019, their interviews with ex-detainees indicate that when they are working in the factories, they are often threatened with being returned to detention facilities. The report also concluded that victims of forced labor were paid below the minimum wage,roughly $42 per month, $181 per year, while they spent an average of 3-6 months working in these factories. In a recent report released by the Jamestown Foundation, it is stated that the Xinjiang’s current Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) does not allow individuals, forced into factory work, to leave, and they are placed under higher surveillance. So, the Chinese government’s focus on employment has shifted from mobilization to coercion since 2017.
Growing International Outcry
Keeping the above information in view, the international community has strongly responded to trade with China which involves forced labor practices. Since 2019, the US Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection has released 10 Withhold Release Orders against goods and companies linked with Xinjiang forced labor. On June 21, 2022, the US Department of State released a press statement announcing the implementation of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. This Act includes “visa restrictions, financial sanctions under Global Magnitsky, export controls, Withhold Release Orders, and import restrictions, as well as the release of a multi-agency business advisory which will help US companies to discontinue business with companies that support child labor, forced labor or any forms of human rights abuses.” Furthermore, the European Commission is set to ban products made using forced labor, as announced in September 2022. Despite being a detailed proposal, it is lacking certain aspects, especially outlining state-imposed forced labor, such as Xinjiang. This has raised concerns especially among human rights activists. Instead, it is a generic proposal, outlining products made worldwide, including those made within the EU. The other criticism this proposal has met is its lengthy process till the time of its adoption and then implementation, especially that all 27 states of the EU might be implementing during differing timelines.
While proposals as such may have raised some criticism, they are, nonetheless, an important step towards building economic pressure on China which will ultimately dismantle government malpractices against its citizens. This is a significant approach to tackle human rights abuses considering the Chinese government’s triadic (“informal, fast-paced, multilayered”) diplomatic activities to increase friendships worldwide since 2014. The Chinese government has cast its net via the Belt and Road Initiative, mainly, which not only includes government institutions, but private companies and military as well. This has proven fruitful for China as it is now on its way to becoming the next economic giant. With the adoption of Acts against forced labor, they would also ensure that in the future, companies don’t become complacent in these mistreatments. There is strong push-back against the horrors of Xinjiang which makes the international community hopeful that the global standards of labor will be met fully by not just the Chinese government, but also serve as a lesson for abusive governments globally.