Uyghur Forced Labourers For Sale to Companies Across China
On November 13, 2021 it was reported by human rights organization Radio Free Asia that a Chinese job placement firm was involved in transferring thousands of Uyghur people including girls as young as 16 to factories in the Mainland (Radio Free Asia 2021). The ad which was posted on Weibo as well as Wechat offered work for Uyghurs aged 16-30 with proficiency in Mandarin and vocational school degrees.
The workers were reported to have been all from Kashgar and transported to locations in Jiangsu and Nanjing province, being paid 2000 Yuan ($398 CAD) per month according to company representatives. In turn the company received 600 yuan ($119 CAD) as subsidies for each employee that was brought into their factories. While it is not clear how many of the workers came from China’s concentration camps it was made clear to reporters that 30% of the work-force were ages 16-18, a fact that had not been revealed previously by human rights groups.
Furthermore, thousands of workers are also scheduled to be displaced in March 2022 to these ‘work’ centers (Radio Free Asia 2021). One thirds of the workers are said to be women and working conditions in mainland facilities are said to include 12 hours shifts with one day off per month. The company that owns the facility is Huafa Fashion Company has been listed on the US “entity list” as of May 2020 for violations of human rights.
Hoshur, Shohret. “Chinese Company Transfers Thousands of Uyghurs from Xinjiang to Nanjing.” Radio Free Asia, 23 Nov. 2021, https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/uyghur-forced-labor-11132021101447.html.
