Right groups link global brands to forced labour in China

Rights groups report alleges the Chinese government runs coercive labour practices targeting predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities

London: Several global brands are among dozens of companies at risk of using forced labour through their Chinese supply chains because they use critical minerals or buy minerals-based products sourced from China’s far-western Xinjiang region, an international rights group said Wednesday.

The report by the Netherlands-based Global Rights Compliance says companies including Avon, Walmart, Nescafe, Coca-Cola and paint supplier Sherwin-Williams may be linked to titanium sourced from Xinjiang, where rights groups allege the Chinese government runs coercive labour practices targeting predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities.

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The report comes as China and the United States, the world’s two largest economies, continue talks aimed at easing their trade dispute.

The report found 77 Chinese suppliers in the titanium, lithium, beryllium and magnesium industries operating in Xinjiang. It said the suppliers are at risk of participating in the Chinese government’s “labour transfer programmes,” in which Uyghurs are forced to work in factories as part of a longstanding campaign of assimilation and mass detention.

Commercial paints, thermos cups and components for the aerospace, auto and defence industries are among products sold internationally that can trace their supply chains to minerals from Xinjiang, the report said. It said companies must review their supply chains.

“Mineral mining and processing in (Xinjiang) rely in part on the State’s forced labor programs for Uyghurs and other Turkic people in the region,” the report said. The named companies did not immediately comment on the report.

A 2022 United Nations report found China may have committed crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, where more than 1 million Uyghurs are estimated to have been arbitrarily detained as part of measures the Chinese government said were intended to target terrorism and separatism.

The Chinese government has rejected the UN claims and defended its actions in Xinjiang as fighting terror and ensuring stability.

In 2021, former US President Joe Biden signed a law to block imports from the Xinjiang region unless businesses can prove the items were made without forced labour. The law initially targeted solar products, tomatoes, cotton and apparel, but the US government recently added new sectors for enforcement, including aluminum and seafood.

A recent report by the International Energy Agency said the world’s sources of critical minerals are increasingly concentrated in a few countries, notably China, which is also a leading refining and processing base for lithium, cobalt, graphite and other minerals.

Many of China’s major minerals corporations have invested in the exploration and mining of lithium, a key component for electric vehicle batteries, in Xinjiang, Global Rights Compliance said. Xinjiang is also China’s top source of beryllium, a mineral used for aerospace, defence and telecommunications, its report said.