Xinjiang: UN report finds it 'reasonable to conclude' forced labour is occurring in autonomous region
A United Nations expert on slavery has found it "reasonable to conclude" that forced labour is taking place in the China's far-western region of Xinjiang.
In a report released on Tuesday, the UN's special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, Tomoya Obokata, said that evidence pointed to forced labour "among Uygur, Kazakh and other ethnic minorities in sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing".
While it does not represent an official UN position - rapporteurs are independent appointees asked to investigate specific rights issues in specific regions and make recommendations - it is among the most critical of China's human rights record to have come from within the body.
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Obokata's assessment was made following an "independent assessment of available information, including submissions by stakeholders, independent academic research, open sources, testimonies of victims, consultations with stakeholders, and accounts provided by the government".
It arrives ahead of a hotly anticipated report by the UN's Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights into conditions in Xinjiang, which is expected before the end of August.
Elizabeth Throssell, a spokeswoman for the human rights office, said that report was still expected before Michelle Bachelet, the high commissioner, leaves office later this month.
The Chinese government was quick to dispute the rapporteur's findings, accusing Obokata of "abusing his authority" to "malignly smear and denigrate China and serve as a political tool for anti-China forces".
"We solemnly urge [a] certain special rapporteur to immediately change course, respect plain facts, observe the mandate of the Human Rights Council and code of conduct of the special procedure, perform duty in a fair and objective manner," foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a news briefing in Beijing on Wednesday.
"There has never been forced labour in Xinjiang," he added.
Obokata cited state-mandated vocational training centres - outside observers call them detention and re-education centres - and labour transfer programmes, in which rural workers are moved into "secondary or tertiary work".
He wrote that "indicators of forced labour pointing to the involuntary nature of work rendered by affected communities have been present in many cases".
China has repeatedly denied these allegations, saying that its vocational training centres are used for deradicalisation and to combat terrorism. On August 12, China ratified two outstanding International Labour Organization conventions on forced labour.
Obokata acknowledged that such programmes "may create employment opportunities for minorities and enhance their incomes, as claimed by the government".
However, he added that the "nature and extent of powers exercised over affected workers" in these programmes may constitute "enslavement as a crime against humanity, meriting a further independent analysis".
He referred to claims about Xinjiang by human rights groups that include "excessive surveillance, abusive living and working conditions, restriction of movement through internment, threats, physical and/or sexual violence and other inhuman or degrading treatment".
The charge of "crimes against humanity", as well as that of genocide, have been lobbed at China by a number of Western governments and parliaments, including the United States.
Beijing has categorically denied all allegations.
A record number of rapporteurs signed a joint statement in June urging Beijing to "grant unhindered access to independent experts who have received and addressed allegations of significant human rights violations and repression of fundamental freedoms in the country".
That statement came one week after Bachelet's visit, in which she toured parts of Xinjiang under the close surveillance of Chinese officials. The statement was seen as an attempt to ensure she would follow through on her vow to release her office's report on Xinjiang before she steps down.
Obokata is a Japanese scholar of international law and human rights, specialising in transnational organised crime, human trafficking and modern slavery.
He was appointed as the special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences, in March 2020, and has previously worked on human rights issues for the British government, the European Union and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Japan.
Human rights conditions in Xinjiang have become a huge point of tension between China and liberal democracies, including large parts of the West, Australia and Japan.
Allegations of forced labour, in particular, have led to policy changes, including a US ban on all products made in Xinjiang.
The European Union is now working on a ban on products made using forced labour, manufactured both inside and outside the bloc. A proposal on the ban is due to be presented in September, but it is unlikely to refer to Xinjiang.
Xinjiang is now a commonplace feature in Group of 7 statements, for example, which in turn draw complaints of interfering in China's internal affairs.
In response to the Western-led criticisms of rights conditions in Xinjiang at the UN, Beijing has regularly rallied developing countries to issue counterstatements.
In June 2021, for instance, a coalition of 69 largely emerging economies defended China's human rights record following widespread criticism at the 47th session of the UN's Human Rights Council.
"Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet related issues are China's internal affairs that brook no interference by any external forces," it read.
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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