UN special rapporteurs and other experts expressed concern on Thursday about the scale and severity of cases of forced labor in China affecting minority groups there. TASR informs about it according to the report of the AFP agency.
UN-appointed experts pointed to “persistent allegations” of forced labor, which mainly affects the Uyghur, Kazakh and Kyrgyz minorities, as well as Tibetans.
Forced labor of minorities
“There is a persistent pattern of alleged state-mandated forced labor involving ethnic minorities in several provinces in China,” the experts said in a joint statement. In many cases, coercive measures are extremely serious: e.g. allegedly to forced transfers or even enslavement. Such practices constitute a crime against humanity, the statement said.
China’s foreign ministry said last year that claims of forced labor were “absolutely baseless”.
But U.N. experts said forced labor is enabled as part of a state-mandated “poverty alleviation through labor transfer” program that forces Uyghurs and members of other minorities to work in China’s Xinjiang province – home to the largest Uyghur community – and other regions.
“They are reportedly systematically monitored, tracked and exploited, with no opportunity to refuse or change jobs due to the pervasive fear of punishment and arbitrary detention,” they said.
Record numbers of transfers
Beijing says these initiatives reduce poverty by providing well-paid jobs for low-income rural residents.
Experts added that Xinjiang’s five-year plan (2021-25) foresees up to 13.75 million cases of labor migration. They said at the same time that “the actual numbers reached new records”.
Forced resettlement of Tibetans
Tibetans are subjected to forced labor through similar programs, with the number of people affected by organized labor displacement estimated at nearly 650,000 in 2024. The experts added that Tibetans are also reportedly being forcibly displaced in “whole village resettlement” programs.
“Labor transfers are part of (China’s) government policy to forcefully rebuild the cultural identity of Uyghurs, other minorities and Tibetans under the guise of poverty alleviation,” experts warned. They therefore call on investors and businesses operating and buying in China to responsibly check the state of compliance with human rights.
The statement was drafted by the Special Rapporteurs on Contemporary Slavery, Cultural Rights, Contemporary Racism and Human Trafficking, as well as members of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights.
UN Special Rapporteurs are independent experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council to report on their findings, but do not act on behalf of the UN.
