Dutch Uyghur Human Rights Foundation
  • Donate
  • Menu Canvas
    • HOME
    • CAUSES
      • CAMPAIGN
    • REPORTS
      • TESTIMONIES
    • NEWS
    • EVENTS
    • About Us
      • Who Are the Uyghurs?
    • Contact
    • Facebook
    • twitter
    • Dutch
Dutch Uyghur Human Rights Foundation
  • HOME
  • CAUSES
    • CAMPAIGN
  • REPORTSFilter
    • TESTIMONIES
  • NEWS
  • EVENTS
  • ABOUT US
    • Who Are The Uyghurs?
  • CONTACT
  • DUTCH
Forced Labour, Uyghur Rights Abuses

China Is Using Uighur Labor to Produce Face Masks

July 20, 2020
By DUHRF
0 Comment
593 Views

This report originally published by By Muyi Xiao, Haley Willis, Christoph Koettl, Natalie Reneau and Drew Jordan on The New York Times

A Times video investigation identified Chinese companies using a contentious labor program for Uighurs to satisfy demand for P.P.E., some of which ended up in the United States and other countries.

Our visual investigation reveals that several Chinese companies are using Uighur labor from a contentious government program to produce P.P.E. during the pandemic. We track some of that equipment to the U.S. and around the world

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to drive demand for personal protective equipment, Chinese companies are rushing to manufacture the gear for domestic and global consumption. A New York Times visual investigation has found that some of those companies are using Uighur labor through a contentious government-sponsored program that experts say often puts people to work against their will.

Uighurs are a largely Muslim ethnic minority primarily from the Xinjiang region of northwest China. The program sends Uighurs and other ethnic minorities into factory and service jobs. Now, their labor is part of the P.P.E. supply chain. According to China’s National Medical Products Administration, only four companies in Xinjiang produced medical grade protective equipment before the pandemic. As of June 30, that number was 51. After reviewing state media reports and public records, The Times found that at least 17 of those companies participate in the labor transfer program.

The companies produce equipment primarily for domestic use, but The Times identified several other companies outside Xinjiang that use Uighur labor and export globally. We traced a shipment of face masks to a medical supply company in the U.S. state of Georgia from a factory in China’s Hubei Province, where more than 100 Uighur workers had been sent. The workers are required to learn Mandarin and pledge their loyalty to China at weekly flag-raising ceremonies.

The program is widely publicized in state media as a form of poverty reduction. The Human Rights Investigations Lab at the University of California, Berkeley and the Uyghur Human Rights Project have both collected dozens of videos and social media reports that document the recent labor transfers.

Uighurs have long been persecuted by the Chinese government, which says its tight control over Xinjiang is necessary to fight what it calls religious extremism. In a response to The Times, the spokesman for China’s Embassy in the U.S. said the program helps “local residents rise above poverty through employment and lead fulfilling lives.”

Quotas on the number of workers put into the labor program and the penalties faced by those who refuse to cooperate, however, mean that participation is often, in effect, involuntary.

“There are these coercive quotas that cause people to be put into factory work when they don’t want to be,” said Amy K. Lehr, the director of the Human Rights Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “And that could be considered forced labor under international law.”

Austin Ramzy contributed reporting.China’s Camps Inside China’s Push to Turn Muslim Minorities Into an Army of WorkersDec. 30, 2019‘Absolutely No Mercy’: Leaked Files Expose How China Organized Mass Detentions of MuslimsNov. 16, 2019Leaked China Files Show Internment Camps Are Ruled by Secrecy and SpyingNov. 24, 2019

Muyi Xiao is a video producer on the Visual Investigations team, which combines traditional reporting with advanced digital forensics. @muyixiao

Haley Willis is a Visual Investigations reporter with the New York Times video team. @heytherehaIey

Christoph Koettl is a visual investigations journalist, specializing in geospatial and open-source research. He is an expert on armed conflicts, human rights and social media verification. @ckoettl

Tags: coronavirus Face Masks Uighur Labor Uyghurs

Previous Story
Organ harvesting in China and why the American media and businesses have turned a blind eye
Next Story
Unions and NGOs call on big brands to stop using Xinjiang forced labor

Related Articles

Uyghur-genocide

Canada's duty to prevent unfolding Uyghur genocide

Published by Mehmet Tohti, Azeezah Kanji on Institute for Research...

concentration-camps-in-uyghur-region

Silence kills: now they have come for the Uyghurs, it is more than time to act

Originally published by Benedict Rogers 09 August 2020, The Tablet...

Recent News

  • The members، Van den Nieuwenhuijzen and Van den Hul receive the Dutch Uyghur Human Rights Foundation as part of the special procedure.
  • What does freedom mean?
  • Chinese agents in Pakistan, Turkey target Uyghurs overseas
  • How the U.S. Has Reacted to China’s Treatment of Uyghurs
  • The U.S. war on terror made life worse for China’s Uighurs

Tags

1 million Appreciation dinner Camp Teacher Chinese ambassador Chinese Entity concentration camps coronavirus destroying mosques DUHRF Dutch Uyghurs enslaved Uyghur labour Europe faith leaders forced detention forced labor forced labour freedom genocidal genocide Global Magnitsky Human Rights Meeting with Ambassador Mehmet Tohti minority Muslim Silent Nury Turkel potential genocide Protest Qelbinur Sidik reeducation camps Sanctions Silence kills slave labour sterilization Tweedekamer U.S. Ambassador uhrp Uighur births Uighur Exiles Uyghur Uyghur Region Uyghur Rights Act Uyghurs Uyghur women war on terror

About Us

The Dutch Uyghur Human Rights Foundation is an NGO founded by five Uyghur activists based in the Netherlands.

our supporters

We have collaboration with
  • uhrp
  • world Uyghur congress
  • campaign for Uyghurs
  • utjd

We are on twitter

Tweets by DutchUyghurHR

Recent Posts

  • The members، Van den Nieuwenhuijzen and Van den Hul receive the Dutch Uyghur Human Rights Foundation as part of the special procedure.
  • What does freedom mean?
  • Chinese agents in Pakistan, Turkey target Uyghurs overseas

Subscribe

If you want to follow our news, reports and events, please subscribe us .

Contact Us

Contact Us Emial: [email protected]
Copyright ©2020 DUHRF.org All Rights Reserved
SearchPosts
Tuesday, 1, Dec
The members، Van den Nieuwenhuijzen and Van den Hul receive the Dutch Uyghur Human Rights Foundation as part of the special procedure.
Saturday, 14, Nov
What does freedom mean?
Wednesday, 11, Nov
Chinese agents in Pakistan, Turkey target Uyghurs overseas
Wednesday, 11, Nov
How the U.S. Has Reacted to China’s Treatment of Uyghurs
Wednesday, 11, Nov
The U.S. war on terror made life worse for China’s Uighurs
Saturday, 26, Sep
STATEMENT ON THE EXISTENCE OF FORCED LABOUR IN THE UYGHUR HOMELAND