A report by an Australian think tank has identified 83 global brands whose supply chains in
China are employing Uighur Muslims in conditions that could amount to forced labour.
Tens of thousands of minority Muslims have been transferred out of China's western
Xinjiang province and delivered as workers to major factories as part of a government scheme, according to the report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI).
China has been accused of detaining more than a million
Uighurs in Xinjiang as part of what it calls a campaign to tackle Islamist extremism. It initially denied this, before recently saying that all those in the "vocational centres" had "graduated" and been given jobs.
The ASPI report, based on analysis of government documents and local media reports, said the Uighurs continued to live "a harsh, segregated life" once they entered the workforce of major factories.
More than 80,000 Uighurs had been transferred far from their homes to work in at least 27 factories across nine provinces, it said.
There, the workers continued to be subject to surveillance, banned from practising their religion, forced to take part in mandarin language classes and restricted in their travel back to Xinjiang.
"Under conditions that strongly suggest forced labour, Uighurs are working in factories that are in the supply chains of at least 83 well-known global brands in the technology, clothing and automotive sectors, including
Apple, BMW,
Gap, Huawei,
Nike,
Samsung,
Sony and Volkswagen," the think-tank said in the introduction to its report.
www.independent.co.uk
