Labour Transfers and Forced-Labour Reports
Researchers and UN experts report that Uyghurs are moved into factory and farm work under coercive state "labour transfer" programmes, linking Xinjiang's cotton, solar and other industries to global supply chains.
- Contemporary Forms of Slavery Affecting Persons Belonging to Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minority Communities (A/HRC/51/26) — Tomoya Obokata, UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, United Nations (2022)
- In Broad Daylight: Uyghur Forced Labour and Global Solar Supply Chains — Laura T. Murphy and Nyrola Elimä, Sheffield Hallam University, Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice (2021)
- Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (Public Law 117-78) — United States Congress, US Government Publishing Office (2021)
- OHCHR Assessment of Human Rights Concerns in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China — Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations (2022)
- Fight against Terrorism and Extremism in Xinjiang: Truth and Facts (China's response to the OHCHR assessment) — Permanent Mission of the People's Republic of China to the UN Office at Geneva, United Nations (2022)
- Terror Capitalism: Uyghur Dispossession and Masculinity in a Chinese City — Darren Byler, Duke University Press (2022)
Alongside the camps, Xinjiang’s government expanded “surplus labour” transfer programmes, moving rural Uyghurs into factories in Xinjiang and other provinces, often in groups, with political education, Mandarin classes and restrictions on religious practice. Some former detainees said they were sent straight from camps to factories.
- Terror Capitalism: Uyghur Dispossession and Masculinity in a Chinese City — Darren Byler, Duke University Press (2022)
- In Broad Daylight: Uyghur Forced Labour and Global Solar Supply Chains — Laura T. Murphy and Nyrola Elimä, Sheffield Hallam University, Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice (2021)
Researchers such as Laura Murphy traced these programmes into supply chains for polysilicon used in solar panels, cotton (Xinjiang grows most of China’s cotton), and car and clothing components. In 2022 the UN special rapporteur on slavery concluded that forced labour was reasonably likely to be occurring.
- In Broad Daylight: Uyghur Forced Labour and Global Solar Supply Chains — Laura T. Murphy and Nyrola Elimä, Sheffield Hallam University, Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice (2021)
- Contemporary Forms of Slavery Affecting Persons Belonging to Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minority Communities (A/HRC/51/26) — Tomoya Obokata, UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, United Nations (2022)
- Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (Public Law 117-78) — United States Congress, US Government Publishing Office (2021)
- Fight against Terrorism and Extremism in Xinjiang: Truth and Facts (China's response to the OHCHR assessment) — Permanent Mission of the People's Republic of China to the UN Office at Geneva, United Nations (2022)
Labour transfer is voluntary poverty alleviation that gives rural people stable jobs, higher incomes and training, protected by labour law. "Forced labour" is a fabrication designed to contain China's development and harm Xinjiang's economy.
- Fight against Terrorism and Extremism in Xinjiang: Truth and Facts (China's response to the OHCHR assessment) — Permanent Mission of the People's Republic of China to the UN Office at Geneva, United Nations (2022)
- Vocational Education and Training in Xinjiang (white paper) — State Council Information Office of the People's Republic of China, State Council Information Office (2019)
A UN special rapporteur concluded in 2022 that it was reasonable to conclude that forced labour of Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other minorities was occurring in sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing, and that some instances may amount to enslavement as a crime against humanity. Researchers have traced transfers into supply chains for solar panels, cotton, cars and clothing.
- Contemporary Forms of Slavery Affecting Persons Belonging to Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minority Communities (A/HRC/51/26) — Tomoya Obokata, UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, United Nations (2022)
- In Broad Daylight: Uyghur Forced Labour and Global Solar Supply Chains — Laura T. Murphy and Nyrola Elimä, Sheffield Hallam University, Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice (2021)
Why it matters today
For Uyghurs abroad, forced labour turned their community's suffering into something the world could act on, through import bans and boycotts. Many Uyghurs inside China have relatives sent to factories far from home. Beijing calls the programmes poverty alleviation, and the argument now shapes trade disputes between China and Western governments.