Name: Half a million Uyghur Muslims 'marshalled and coerced' into picking cotton, evidence suggests
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Half a million Uyghur Muslims 'marshalled and coerced' into picking cotton, evidence suggests

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are believed to have been marshalled into picking cotton and coerced into working in textile factories, new evidence has revealed.Unearthed documents and video footage suggests a high density of cotton pickers in thousands of and other minorities are taking part in hard, manual labour believed to be brought about by coercion in the north west region of Xinjiang, according to footage and documents uncovered by and .The Chinese region is home to more than 21 million people, and produces a fifth of the world’s cotton supply – calling into question who is benefiting from trading with one of the world’s largest suppliers of the fibre. In China’s government documents and state press articles obtained by , reports detail 210,000 workers being sent “via labour transfer” to pick cotton for a Chinese paramilitary organisation, the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps in 2018.were shown to be sent to the prefectures of Aksu and Hotan, many miles away from their homes. These documents also mention “guiding” the pickers to “consciously resist illegal religious activities,” suggesting the group are targeted to carry out the work. In 2019 and 2020, satellite footage showed a factory site forming next door to the alleged “concentration camp” said to be housing up to 1.5 million minorities. “In my view the implications are truly on a historical scale,” Dr Adrian Zenz, a senior fellow at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation in Washington&nbsp;, told .“For the first time we not only have evidence of Uyghur forced labour in manufacturing, in garment making, it’s directly about the picking of cotton, and I think that is such a game-changer.“Anyone who cares about ethical sourcing has to look at Xinjiang, which is 85 per cent of China’s cotton and 20 per cent of the world’s cotton, and say, ‘We can’t do this anymore.’”These cotton exports will not just benefit China, but countries and continents farther afield, with campaigners like Dr Zenz urging global powers to impose sanctions and boycotts to sever supply chain ties. Supply chain links between the camps and , with “virtually the entire fashion world” implicated in links to this form of forced labour. These corporations are among many brands who said they have investigated all alleged links, and deny any use of fibre imported from these sites. Campaign group End Uyghur Forced Labour said&nbsp;major corporations&nbsp;&nbsp;by their suppliers, but “have offered no credible explanation as to how they can meet this standard while continuing to do business in a region where forced labour is rife.”But the nation’s political camps appear divided over taking action, with the US Chamber of Commerce suggesting a boycott could make the problem worse. Evidence of the “de-radicalisation” camps first emerged in 2016, with reports of widespread abuses from survivors and human rights groups . have been rife from those who have managed to escape the so-called “concentration camps”, with human rights organisations estimating &nbsp;Uighurs, Kazakhs, and other Turkic minorities are being detained in as many as 1,000 concentration camps across the Chinese province of Xinjiang. The Chinese government has vehemently denied the claims, insisting that the camps are “vocational training schools” and the factories are part of a voluntary “poverty alleviation” scheme.has contacted the Chinese Embassy for further comment.

are believed to have been marshalled into picking cotton and coerced into working in textile factories, new evidence has revealed.Unearthed documents and video footage suggests a high density of cotton pickers in thousands of and other minorities are taking part in hard, manual labour believed to be brought about by coercion in the north west region of Xinjiang, according to footage and documents uncovered by and .The Chinese region is home to more than 21 million people, and produces a fifth of the world’s cotton supply – calling into question who is benefiting from trading with one of the...

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Jasmine Andersson

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Half a million Uyghur Muslims 'marshalled and coerced' into picking cotton, evidence suggests

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