Beijing’s Human Rights Abuses Against Uighurs Meets Stern U.S. Response


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U.S. Moves To Stop Products Manufactured With Uighur-Forced Labor


Beijing’s Human Rights Abuses Against Uighurs Meets Stern U.S. Response

(New York, N.Y.) – The U.S. Department of Commerce blacklisted
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11 Chinese firms this week accused of human rights violations. The companies
were involved in using forced labor by Uighurs and other Muslim minority
groups—a practice actively promoted by Beijing and which the Commerce
Department described as “reprehensible.” The move was made in response to
resurfaced dronefootage
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showing blindfolded and shackled Uighurs being led onto trains in Xinjiang.
Similarly, the U.S.House of Representatives
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Senate
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are considering bills that will ensure goods made with forced labor in the
Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) do not enter the U.S. market.

 

Separately, the United Kingdom threatened
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“gross and egregious” human rights abuses toward its Uighur population.

 

The video, which first appeared in October 2019, brings China’s human rights
violations against its Uighur population back into the spotlight, adding to the
pressure from newreports
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that Beijing is allowing companies to use the forced labor of Uighurs to
manufacture personal protective equipment (PPE) and issterilizing
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draconian campaign to curb birth rates in the Muslim population.

 

Since 2017, Muslim minorities in China’s XUAR have been assigned to “cultural
immersion” programs to increase loyalty to the Chinese state in an effort to
combat radicalization and terrorism among what China considers to be a
vulnerable Muslim population. Living in conditions that are nothing more than
detention centers, Uighurs and other Muslim minorities are reportedly subjected
to constant human rights abuses as they live under constant surveillance and
are forced to work in labor camps. It is estimated that 1 to 2 million Uighurs
have been detained in what China calls re-education camps.

 

China has faced international scrutiny in the past for its maltreatment of
Uighurs and other minority groups. In July 2019, more than 22 countries at the
United Nations’ Human Rights Councilcalled on
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China to halt its mass detention of Uighurs. Following international
condemnation of the XUAR internment camps, on July 30, 2019, Chinese officials
claimed that they released the majority of the detainees but did not offer
convincing evidence.

 

To read CEP’s China resource, please click here
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