A UN special envoy on modern slavery said in a report released on Tuesday that Chinese authorities had imposed forced labor on people from Muslim minorities in the northwestern autonomous region of Xinjiang.
The communist regime led by Xi Jinping is accused of detaining and repressing more than a million Uighurs and other minorities, as well as organizing forced labor and sterilization campaigns. The US government, for example, accuses Beijing of committing genocide and crimes against humanity in the region.
The document, signed by the rapporteur Tomoya Obokata, cites testimonies from victims, NGOs and research centers, and says it is “reasonable to conclude” that minorities such as the Uighurs and Kazakhs are being subjected to forced labor in sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing – which could be configured as slavery.
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbing denied the allegations and said that Obokata chooses to believe the lies and disinformation fabricated by the US and other anti-China forces.
The report points out two distinct systems that would involve cases of forced labor ordered by the Chinese state. One is a vocational training center in which minorities are detained and forced to work, while the second seeks to reduce poverty through a labor transfer system, where surplus rural workers are transferred to the secondary or secondary sectors. tertiary.
“While these programs can create employment opportunities for minorities and increase their income… the Special Rapporteur considers that indicators of forced labor that point to the involuntary nature of the work provided by affected communities were present in many cases”, he points out.
According to the document, the nature and scope of the power exercised over workers – including excessive surveillance and abusive living and working conditions – could be “equivalent to slavery as a crime against humanity, something that would require independent analysis”.
The report adds that in Tibet, a similar labor transfer system exists, where the “program transfers farmers, herders and other rural workers into low-skilled, low-paying jobs.”
The Chinese government says that Xinjiang’s vocational training centers are aimed at fighting extremism. Rebutting the Obokata report, the ministry spokesperson insisted that minority rights are being protected and blamed the UN special envoy for viciously smearing China’s name and acting as a political tool for anti-Beijing forces. .
Obokata serves as the UN Special Rapporteur, which are independent experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council but do not speak on behalf of the organization.
In May, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet made a rare visit to China, which included a stopover in Xinjiang to assess the plight of Muslim minorities.
At the time, the US government and human rights organizations accused Bachelet of not showing enough firmness in front of Beijing. A report on the topic should be published before she leaves office at the end of August.
