The Link Between Trade and Human Rights: Combating Human Rights Abuses in Xinjiang
In the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China (Xinjiang), an examination of a government-sanctioned program establishing training centers claimed to be a voluntary opportunity for the Uyghur people and other predominately Muslim ethnic minorities Footnote #1 content: The Uyghurs and other predominately Muslim ethnic minorities, namely Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Uzbeks, and Huis, predominately make up the population of the Xinjiang region and are victims of the abuses carried out by the Chinese government in the region. OFF. OF THE HIGH COMM’R, U.N. HUM. RTS., OHCHR ASSESSMENT OF HUMAN RIGHTS CONCERNS IN THE XINJIANG UYGHUR AUTONOMOUS REGION, PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA 1 n.1 (2022), https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/ countries/2022-08-31/22-08-31-final-assesment.pdf [https://perma.cc/54HR-LPKG]. However, for clarity and because the majority of victims are members of the Uyghur ethnic group, this Note primarily refers to those affected by China’s forced labor regime as “Uyghurs.” to gain vocational skills and to respond to threats of “terrorism” in the region illustrates the true nature of the program: one in which systematic abuses and efforts of cultural erasure are carried out against the Uyghur people. Footnote #2 content: See AMNESTY INT’L, “LIKE WE WERE ENEMIES IN A WAR”: CHINA’S MASS INTERNMENT, TORTURE AND PERSECUTION OF MUSLIMS IN XINJIANG 23 (2021), https://xinjiang.amnesty.org/#case-SR128 [https://perma.cc/27GK-W67A]. In reality, these programs involve numerous human rights abuses, Footnote #3 content: While other instances of major human rights violations—including evidence of torture, sexual violence, and crimes against humanity of forcible transfer and persecution—have been committed against the Uyghurs, this Note focuses narrowly on instances of forced labor given its focus on international trade mechanisms. See OFF. OF THE HIGH COMM’R, supra note 1, at 21–25; ADRIAN ZENZ, JAMESTOWN FOUND., COERCIVE LABOR AND FORCED DISPLACEMENT IN XINJIANG’S CROSS-REGIONAL LABOR TRANSFER PROGRAM: A PROCESS-ORIENTED EVALUATION 39–49 (2021), https://jamestown.org/ wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Coercive-Labor-and-Forced-Displacement-in-Xinjiangs-Cross-Regional- Labor-Transfers-A-Process-Oriented-Evaluation.pdf?x75295 [https://perma.cc/99LF-VL6U]; HUM. RTS. WATCH & MILLS LEGAL CLINIC, “BREAK THEIR LINEAGE, BREAK THEIR ROOTS”: CHINESE GOVERNMENT CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY TARGETING UYGHURS AND OTHER TURKIC MUSLIMS 12–39 (2021), https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/04/19/break-their-lineage-break-their-roots/chinas-crimes-against- humanity-targeting [https://perma.cc/C3CD-QNN5]. However, these allegations warrant further discussion and action by the international community to put an end to these violations and hold the Chinese government accountable for the abuses against the Uyghur people. including torture, mass detention, forced labor, and even death. Footnote #4 content: See AMNESTY INT’L, supra note 2, at 7; Chinese Persecution of the Uyghurs, U.S. HOLOCAUST MEM’L MUSEUM, https://www.ushmm.org/genocide-prevention/countries/china/chinese-persecution-of- the-uyghurs [https://perma.cc/2UDJ-VFGK] (last visited Mar. 29, 2024); John Sudworth, Xinjiang Police Files: Inside a Chinese Internment Camp, BBC NEWS (May 24, 2022), https://www.bbc.co.uk/ news/resources/idt-8df450b3-5d6d-4ed8-bdcc-bd99137eadc3 [https://perma.cc/F7EE-FDKN]. Uyghurs are detained because they are classified as “suspicious,” “untrustworthy,” or as a “terrorist” or “extremist.” Footnote #5 content: AMNESTY INT’L, supra note 2, at 8. In these camps, detainees are stripped of their autonomy, forced to speak Mandarin rather than their native language, prevented from practicing Islam, and regimented to a program for “ideological transformation.” Footnote #6 content: Id. at 63–65.
Continue reading The Link Between Trade and Human Rights: Combating Human Rights Abuses in Xinjiang.