China: New study reveals schemes to uproot minorities in Xinjiang through labour transfer

Even as China continues to face backlash globally over human rights abuses, a new study has revealed schemes of the Chiese Communist Party's to forcibly uproot, assimilate and reduce the population of religious minorities in the Xinjiang region through coercive recruitment.

A report by Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) adviser Adrian Zenz shed new light on the coercive labour transfer schemes taking place in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The report estimates that millions of Uyghurs and other minorities have been forcibly relocated under these schemes in recent years, which if proven, could meet international criteria for the Crimes Against Humanity of Forcible Transfer and Persecution.

"The coercive labour transfer scheme is distinct from the well-documented use of detainees in Xinjiang's re-education camps for forced labour. This adds to a mounting body of evidence revealing egregious human rights abuses against the Uyghurs and other minorities, including arbitrary detention, mass sterilization and the systematic torture and sexual abuse of those imprisoned in the Xinjiang region's vast prison camp network," the statement added.

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IPAC further reiterated its call for an international legal investigation into crimes against humanity and genocide taking place in China.

"While such a possibility remains remote, we commit to working in a coordinated way to ensure that individual states undertake their own investigations, and take all necessary measures to ensure that supply chains are not tainted by forced labour from the Uyghur Region and elsewhere in China," the statement added. 

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China's systematic crackdown on Uyghurs

China's Xinjiang is home to around 10 million Uyghurs. These Turkic Muslims, which consist of 45% of Xinjiang's population, have long accused China's authorities of cultural, religious and economic discrimination. About 7% of the Muslim population in Xinjiang has been imprisoned in an expanding network of "political re-education" (detention) camps, according to US officials and UN experts.

Classified documents known as the China Cables revealed how the Chinese government uses technology to control Uyghur Muslims worldwide. However, China has repeatedly denied these reports stating that the camps in Xinjiang provide vocational training. 

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(With inputs from agency)