Western Supply Chains Tainted By Uyghur Forced Labor
On June 11, 2o25, a non-governmental organization, Global Rights Compliance, published findings of their investigation into the issue of Western companies linked to the People's Republic of China's (PRC) critical minerals industry in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). The report examined titanium, lithium, beryllium, and magnesium supply chains in particular, analysing PRC policy documents, government shipping records, in addition to academic articles, and other documents. As the report indicates, 'China's critical minerals sector is the latest industry to face scrutiny over alleged links to forced labour by Western companies, following the BBC's damning report on tomato purée supply chains at the end of 2024 and also a recent report by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism focusing on the use of Uyghur state-imposed forced labour in China's economy.'
The alleged Uyghur forced labor concerns the dire situation of the Uyghur community in the region. The ethno-religious minority community is said to have been subjected to forced incarceration in camps, followed by their forced labor across factories in the region. In 2021, the U.S. State Department determined the atrocities to amount to genocide and crimes against humanity. The research of the Global Rights Compliance revealed the coercive and abusive nature of forced labor transfers Uyghurs endure, but also loss of income, harassment, violence or detention. The UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery identified the XUAR's labor transfer system as a state-mandated form of forced labor, which in some instances 'may amount to enslavement as a crime against humanity.'
The use of Uyghur forced labor in the supply chain is not a new allegation. However, the report produced by the Global Rights Compliance is the first investigation to examine Western links to forced labor in the critical minerals sector in the PRC's Uyghur Region. China's critical minerals are essential for the components, infrastructure, and advancement of modern economies, technologies, and national security. The global economy relies on a stable and sufficient supply of minerals and metals. According to U.S. government data, in 2024, the PRC was the leading producing country for 30 of 44 critical minerals.
According to the findings of the Global Rights Compliance, 77 critical minerals sector companies and downstream manufacturers of minerals-based products operating in the XUAR are at risk of participating in labor transfer programs, in the titanium, lithium, beryllium, and magnesium industries. The report identified 15 companies documented as sourcing directly from the XUAR region-based companies in the last two years. The report found 68 downstream customers of those Chinese suppliers with sourcing from the XUAR, indicating a risk that inputs may have been sourced from the region.
Among others, the report identified Wujo Group's trading company, Wujo International, as one of the companies sourcing in XUAR. Wujo International is responsible for the import and export of Wujo Group products worth 60 million USD to over 100 countries annually across North and South America, Europe, and Asia. Wujo Group's verified Alibaba page indicates that its 'cooperative partners' include Avon, Gibson, Carrefour, Metro, Auchan, Walmart, Disney, Quaker, Coca-Cola, Nescafe, Starbucks, Kaufland, and Costa Coffee. The company indicates explicitly that it is the 'supplier of global commerce chains,' Auchan, Walmart, Kaufland, and Carrefour.
The report provides recommendations to Western companies sourcing from the Uyghur Region, who must urgently trace their supply chain and address any points of exposure to Uyghur forced labour at every tier of the supply chain. Additionally, Western governments should address their relationship to the ongoing atrocities in the Uyghur Region and the deepening reliance on the PRC's dominance of the critical minerals supply chain with immediate and decisive action.
It stresses that Western countries and companies must address the PRC's increasing domination of critical minerals and supply chains which exploit Uyghurs.
The issue is currently being looked into the UK Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
UPI
2 hours ago
- UPI
Britain agrees to open child sexual grooming investigation
United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks during a joint press conference with President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington DC, in February. File photo by Chris Kleponis/UPI | License Photo June 15 (UPI) -- British officials said Sunday that they have never dismissed reports of child grooming gangs in the country, and vowed to release the results of an investigation Monday. "These are the most important people in the discussions," chancellor Rachel Reeves said on the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg program. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been criticized for ignoring reports about grooming gangs, and initially appeared to resist an independent investigation, but did agree to open an inquiry after months of pressure from conservatives. The results of a previous report are to be released Monday, and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is scheduled to address the findings with Parliament. When promoted, Reeves said Sunday that Starmer has long been focused on the grooming gang activity, and she shifted the blame to the Conservative party that held office prior to Starmer's election, intimating that the previous administration had not taken action to address the issue, either. "Our prime minister has always been really focused on the victims, and not grandstanding but actually doing the practical things to ensure something like this never happens again," she said Sunday. Maggie Oliver, a former detective with the Greater Manchester Police who resigned over the way the said grooming cases were handled in Rochdale, said both parties have been "dragged kicking and screaming to this point" to address grooming gang allegations. "For me, I can only look at them with contempt, because I see on the ground the suffering their neglect has caused," she said on the Sunday program. A prior report seven years in the making conclude that child sexual abuse was "epidemic" across the nation, and made 20 recommendations in 2022. Advocates said many of the victims have been waiting years for justice.
Bloomberg
3 hours ago
- Bloomberg
Xi Takes Push for Global Sway to Central Asia With Kazakh Visit
By Chinese President Xi Jinping is heading to Kazakhstan for talks with Central Asian leaders, providing a counterpoint to a Group of Seven summit by visiting a vast region at the nexus of competing interests from Washington to Beijing. Xi, who's making only his third overseas trip this year, will meet with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Monday and attend the second gathering of the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan the following day.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Protesters in Montreal show support for Gaza, denounce 'red lines crossed' by Israel
Anne-Marie Barabé was under no illusions. In the last 20 months, Montreal has been host to countless protests denouncing Israel's relentless bombing campaign in Gaza. Participating in the latest one on Saturday afternoon, the Montrealer acknowledged, is unlikely to have a direct effect on what's happening thousands of kilometres away. But Barabé felt she had to be there. "We feel so helpless," she said. "We find that our governments are very timid when it comes to the situation and what's happening is completely intolerable." Another protester, Julie Guernier, described what's happening in Gaza as a genocide being broadcast live. According to La Presse Canadienne, Barabé and Guernier were among several thousand protesters who gathered near the Guy-Concordia Metro station downtown, before marching to the recently inaugurated Place des Montréalaises. Many were either dressed in red shirts, or waved the red, white, black and green Palestinian flag in a display meant to symbolize "the many red lines crossed by Israel in Gaza," according to the news release for the protest. Organizers were also urging Canada "to move now from words to actions," the news release reads. The event was organized jointly by a long list of organizations: Amnistie internationale Canada Francophone, Doctors Without Borders Canada, Save the Children Canada, and Oxfam-Québec to name a few. In an interview with Radio-Canada, Béatrice Vaugrante, the executive director for Oxfam-Québec, described Canada's actions — or inaction — as a "monumental legal and moral failure." "Hunger is being used as a war weapon. We have a population that is really on the edge of famine with bombings that target civil infrastructure and the population," Vaugrante said. A new analysis by the Crisis Group, an NGO that studies global conflicts, concludes that Israel's military has turned Gaza into a giant "experiment in starvation" and is creating conditions for the forced displacement of Palestinians by keeping people fed just enough to stay alive, but hungry enough to rebel against Hamas. Last month, the Gaza Humanitaran Fund (GHF), a group backed by the U.S. that has drawn criticism and strong condemnation from other agencies, began its aid distribution operation in the enclave. A collection of Western aid agencies have accused Israel of using the GHF to deliberately herd Palestinians out of their homes in order to be closer to the aid distribution centres, where it will be it easier to move them out of Gaza permanently. GHF took over delivering aid in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel lifted its almost three month-long blockade of the territory. In a post on X, Israel's Foreign Ministry wrote: "Hundreds of trucks. Millions of meals. Every Single Day. One of the largest humanitarian aid operations in the world is currently reaching the people of Gaza — enabled by Israel." The organizers for Saturday's protest in Montreal are calling for a permanent ceasefire and for Canada to work to put an end to the displacement of people in the West Bank. Vaugrante appeared hopeful that protests, like the one on Saturday, can make a difference. "All action, peaceful action, are welcome," she said. "Everything we've done together, from marches to artistic expressions to signing petitions, meeting elected officials, this plurality of action means that the pressure is ramping up." Earlier this week, Canada joined the U.K., Norway, Australia and New Zealand in sanctioning two Israeli ministers for "inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank" — a move condemned by the Trump Administration. Israel began a military campaign in Gaza after it was attacked by Hamas-led militants, who killed some 1,200 people and took about 251 hostage on Oct. 7, 2023, Israeli authorities say. Since then, nearly 55,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to health authorities in Gaza, and much of the densely populated strip has been flattened. "There are no words left to describe the situation in Gaza right now," said Mélanie Jomphe, who also attended Saturday's protest in Montreal. Jomphe is in charge of human resources in for Doctors Without Borders. She said she worked in Gaza for five months in Deir al Balah, a city in the centre of the Gaza strip. In recent days, part of the focus has shifted onto tensions between Israel and Iran that have escalated significantly. On Sunday, Israel unleashed airstrikes across Iran for a third day and threatened even greater force as some Iranian missiles evaded Israeli air defences to strike buildings in the heart of the country. Israel's strikes have killed at least 406 people in Iran and wounded another 654, according to a human rights group that has long followed developments in the country, Washington-based Human Rights Activists. Iran's government has not offered overall casualty figures. Israel said 14 people have been killed there since Friday and 390 wounded. Based on a report by La Presse Canadienne, with files from Radio-Canada and CBC's Chris Brown and The Associated Press.
