US accuses China of drafting policies favouring trafficking, forced labour in Xinjiang

China has a government "policy or pattern" of human trafficking and widespread forced labour through the mass arbitrary detention of more than one million Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, ethnic Kyrgyz, and other Muslims in the Xinjiang, the US State Department said in a report released on Thursday. 

According to the "2021 Trafficking in Persons" (TIP) report, a total of 11 governments around the world have been accused of having a "documented policy" of human trafficking and forced labour. The US State Department has accused China of implementing such policies to target religious minorities under their auspices along with the coerced repatriation and internment of minorities living abroad through the use of surveillance, harassment, and threats. 

"Govt is the trafficker in Xinjiang"

"In Xinjiang, the government is the trafficker. Authorities use threats of physical violence, forcible drug intake, physical and sexual abuse, and torture to force detainees to work in adjacent or off-site factories or worksites producing garments, footwear, carpets, yarn, food products, holiday decorations, building materials, extractives, materials for solar power equipment and other renewable energy components, consumer electronics, bedding, hair products, cleaning supplies, personal protective equipment, face masks, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and other goods--and these goods are finding their way into businesses and homes around the world," the report said.

The US State Department report further stated that China has been carrying out mass detention and political indoctrination campaigns against Uyghurs in Xinjiang for the last four years. The report urges governments, companies, and consumers to help eliminate human trafficking by acting against the use of forced labour in Xinjiang.

Last month, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet had called for meaningful access to verify the serious reports of human rights violations and the genocide of Uyghur Muslims. A systemic cleansing of the indigenous population including 11 ethnic Muslims who live in the northwestern region of Xinjiang is being undertaken in China in the name of 're-education'. Despite the reports and US sanctions against Chinese agencies linked to abuses in Xinjiang, China has denied any human rights abuse of Uyghur Muslims.

Apart from China, countries such as Afghanistan, Burma, Cuba, Eritrea, North Korea, Iran, Russia, South Sudan, Syria, and Turkmenistan have also been accused of human trafficking and trafficking in government-funded programs, sexual slavery in camps, etc

(With Agency Inputs)