News and Views on Tibet

China responsible for forced labour in Xinjiang and Tibet: UN report

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Workers in a Chinese government facility in East Turkestan (Photo/New York Times)

By Choekyi Lhamo

DHARAMSHALA, Aug 19: According to a new UN report, China has imposed policies that has resulted in forced labour in occupied regions including East Turkestan (Xinjiang) and Tibet. U.N. Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery Tomoya Obokata said that some aspects of China’s Xinjiang policy could even amount to “enslavement as a crime against humanity.”

The report published on Wednesday stated that some instances of forced labour, like excessive surveillance, restrictions of movement through threats, abusive working conditions may amount to “enslavement”, and that it “merit[s] a further independent analysis”. It mentioned two state-mandated systems to subject local people to forced labor; including vocational training centers where “minorities are detained and subjected to work placements” and a method of poverty alleviation through labor transfer which allots surplus rural laborers “into secondary or tertiary sector work,” the report stated.

The findings compared how a similar labour system has also been imposed in Tibet where “mainly farmers, herders and other rural workers” are forcefully transferred into state facilities to do “low-skilled and low-paid” work. The Beijing government has categorically rejected such allegations despite mounting evidence in the last couple of years. China previously said that these programs only create job opportunities for minorities to generate income. The report further claimed that this so-called job scheme of “involuntary nature of work rendered by affected communities” is prevalent in Xinjiang and Tibet.

The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin retorted by criticizing Obokata’s statement saying that he had “abuse[d] his authority, blatantly violate[d] the code of conduct of the special procedure [and] malignly smear and denigrate China”. Wang reiterated the government’s policy of disregarding all criticisms from the West by calling the report “lies and disinformation” calling them anti-China forces. “There has never been ‘forced labor’ in Xinjiang. The Chinese government follows a people-centered development philosophy and attaches great importance to protecting the rights and interests of workers,” he further responded.

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