Apple, Sony accused of using forced labour of Uighur detainees in China
03 March, 2020
Top global brands such as Apple, Sony and BMW have already been accused of using the forced labour of China’s Uighur detainees, after an Australian think tank said on Monday that the federal government has transferring 80,000 or more inmates from internment camps in Xinjiang to factories that manufacture products for a few of the world’s leading brands.
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute said, “Some factories across China are employing forced Uighur labour under a state-sponsored labour transfer scheme,” the think tank said.
The oppressed Chinese minority Uighurs work in the supply chains of 83 well-known global brands in technology, clothing and automotive sectors, the think tank said. The brands, it added, included “Apple, BMW, Gap, Huawei, Nike, Samsung, Sony and Volkswagen”.
“Companies using forced Uighur labour in their supply chains may find themselves in breach of laws which prohibit the importation of goods made with forced labour or mandate disclosure of forced labour supply chain risks,” the report said.
“The firms listed in this report should conduct immediate and thorough human rights due diligence on the factory labour in China, including robust and independent social audits and inspections.”
Volkswagen and Apple, when contacted by AFP, gave the news agency boiler plate statements about commitment to their responsibility to make sure everyone within their supply chain is treated with dignity.
As expected, China’s foreign ministry on Monday slammed the ASPI report as baseless and accused the institute of wanting to “smear China’s efforts to oppose terrorism and fight extremism in Xinjiang.”
The Xinjiang measures have “achieved great results” and “all participants undergoing anti-extremism education have graduated and achieved stable employment,” foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijiang said at a regular press briefing.
Around one million mostly Muslim ethnic minorities have already been held in internment camps in Xinjiang.
After initially denying their existence, Beijing cast the facilities as “vocational education centres” where “students” learn Mandarin and job skills in an effort to steer them from religious extremism, terrorism and separatism.
Rights groups and witnesses accuse China of forcibly trying to draw Uighurs from.
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