March 12, 2020

Apple and Adidas benefit from forced labour in China

topic:	Slavery
located:	China, USA
editor:	Yair Oded

Over the past three years, the Chinese Communist Party has accelerated its crackdown on Chinese Muslims and erected ‘re-education’ camps at which over one million Uyghurs (a Turkic ethnic minority), are detained. A recent report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) reveals that Uyghurs ‘graduating’ from the camps are sent to factories in China where they are forced to produce goods that are used by at least 83 global brands, including Apple, Sony, Adidas, and Nike. 

Attempts by the Chinese government to expedite the integration of Uyghurs and Kazakhs, who are viewed as separatist entities, into the predominant Han Chinese culture date back to the early 2000s. Back then, a governmental programme was launched which forced young Uyghurs (mostly women initially) to go work at factories in inner China. Refusals resulted in threats, fines, land confiscations and jail time.

Although the programme was temporarily halted in 2009, harsh restrictions on the Uyghur population, which is concentrated primarily in the Xinjiang province in Western China, had led to ethnic tensions, riots, terrorist attacks, and harsh government retaliation, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of civilians - both Uyghur and Han. 

After his ascent to power, President Xi Jinping made the crackdown on Uyghur self-determination a top priority. Under the direction of top Communist Party officials, ‘re-education’ camps were erected in Xinjiang as part of what the government called a “struggle against terrorism, infiltration and separatism.” Accounts of locals and Uyghurs who escape the camps, as well as internal government documents that leaked last year, confirm that the Xinjiang facilities are in fact concentration camps in which over a million Uyghurs are held against their will under inhumane conditions. The goal? Brainwashing them into renouncing their religion and culture, and forcing them to pledge unwavering loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party and the Han way of life. 

The camps constitute but one aspect of an elaborate campaign by the Chinese government to oppress and intimidate the Uyghur population. Millions of Uyghurs are subject to relentless surveillance by the authorities (even those living abroad), restrictions on their religious practices continually rise, and ‘disappearance’ of members of their communities has become part of the norm. Children are being separated from their parents. 

As indicated by ASPI, those who are released from the camps in Xinjiang are often transported to factories across China where they are subject to “conditions that strongly suggest forced labour.”

Reporting by ASPI and the Associated Press both corroborate that Uyghurs are coerced to sign contracts that obligate them to work at factories for several years, and that those who refuse risk being thrown back in the camps or have their family members arrested. At the factories, Uyghurs are forbidden from praying, they must attend mandatory ‘assimilation’ classes, and are only permitted to venture out of the compounds twice a month. 

One such factory is located in Nanchang and is owned by the supplier OFILM. There, Uyghurs are among the workers who make computer screens, cameras, and fingerprint scanners which are sold to companies ranging from Apple, Lenovo and Sony to fast-food chains like McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and Subway. Other factories reportedly using Uyghur forced-labour make sportswear for companies like Adidas and Nike. 

Although some of these companies do not have direct links to the suppliers, they nonetheless benefit from their goods via third actors. And while some of them announced they will investigate the matter, it seems unlikely that a downright ban on the purchasing of forced-labour products will be adopted without serious intervention by the international community. 

Intervening on behalf of Chinese Uyghurs may seem like an infeasible undertaking to most people around the world. Yet, as consumers, we have the opportunity to hold companies accountable and demand an end to their greed-inspired compliance with the subjugation of Chinese Muslims. 

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