Global carmakers implicated in using Uyghur forced labour due to Chinese govt's pressure

Bejing [China], February 2 (ANI): Some global carmakers are applying weaker human rights and responsible sourcing standards to their joint ventures in China owing to pressure from the Chinese government, as reported by Voice of America (VOA), citing a report.
The lenient standards increase the risk of exposing supply chains to forced labour from China's Xinjiang Autonomous Region, where over 1 million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities have been subject to mass internment and other forms of persecution.
According to a Human Rights Watch report titled Asleep at the Wheel, several major global carmakers, including Volkswagen, Tesla, General Motors and Toyota, have failed to minimize the risk of Uyghur forced labour being used in their aluminium supply chain, which is an important material for automotive parts.
Jim Wormington, a senior researcher at HRW and author of the report, said, "The aluminium supply chain operates with multiple layers between the car company and the aluminium producer, and these layers create an opaqueness that kind of benefits the car industry because carmakers can buy material without knowing its origin and without knowing the risks to a context like Xinjiang."
Moreover, in recent years, several international investigations have found evidence of forced labour in Xinjiang, VOA reported.
Some of the researchers have warned that the supply chains of certain industries, such as the solar panel and auto industries, may be exposed to forced labour from Xinjiang.
A total of 15 per cent of the aluminium produced in China is sourced from Xinjiang. Additionally, Human Rights Watch found evidence through Chinese state media articles, company reports and government statements that aluminium producers in the region are participating in labour transfers.
"The link between Xinjiang, the aluminium industry, and forced labour is Chinese government-backed labour transfer programs, which coerce Uyghurs and members of other Turkic Muslim communities into jobs in Xinjiang and other regions," the report said, adding that the evidence from Chinese government sources shows that aluminium smelters in Xinjiang participated in labour transfers.
Since most aluminium from Xinjiang is mixed with other metals to make aluminium alloys in other parts of China, it's difficult to determine how much aluminium came from Xinjiang, as reported by VOA.
"Aluminum ingots from Xinjiang are brought and sold by commodities traders, further obscuring the links between Xinjiang and supply chains," the report highlighted.
Meanwhile, at least three aluminium producers or smelters in Xinjiang, including Xinjiang East Hope Nonferrous Metals, Tianshan Aluminum and Xinfa Group Xinjiang, have been identified as either receiving labour transfers targeting Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities or being closely linked to the Xinjiang Production Construction Corps, which plays a key role in the repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, as per previous research and investigations.
While responding to the criticism of facilitating forced labour in Xinjiang, the Chinese Embassy in Washington said the accusation is "a lie of the century fabricated to smear China."
The spokesperson from the embassy said, "The people in Xinjiang have their workers' rights concretely guaranteed. This falsehood only proves that some in the United States are using human rights to disadvantage China, disrupt international trade rules and undercut the stability of international industrial and supply chains."
Beijing made an effort to push back against accusations imposed on it related to forced labour in Xinjiang, as reported by VOA.
However, Human Rights Watch said global carmakers have a responsibility to identify, prevent, and mitigate the presence of forced labour in their supply chains under regulations mandated by the United Nations.
Later, some carmakers, including Volkswagen and Tesla, told the organisation that they have limited capacity to address their Chinese joint ventures' supply chain links to Xinjiang.
Volkswagen, which holds 50 per cent of the equity of its joint venture in China with Chinese automaker SAIC, claimed they are "not legally responsible" for human rights impacts in their joint venture's supply chain because Germany's supply chain law "only covers subsidiaries in which companies have a decisive influence."
However, when asked about the potential links between their Chinese joint venture and an aluminium producer in Xinjiang, Volkswagen admitted they have "no transparency about the supplier relationships" of their Chinese joint ventures.
Despite the difficulty of conducting audits in China and the fear of retaliation from the Chinese authorities, Wormington from HRW said there are ways for carmakers to demand more information from Chinese suppliers about the supply chain, according to VOA.
"(While) some carmakers really fear retaliation, since Chinese carmakers want access to global markets, global carmakers can ask their suppliers to get more information on their supply chain," he said. "There are things that carmakers can do, but in the context where they can't ask suppliers about human rights issues, that becomes extremely difficult."
Moreover, some foreign jurisdictions, including the US and the European Union, have enacted or are planning to pass laws that require businesses to disclose their supply chains and identify potential links to human rights abuses.
In addition, some governments have also imposed import restrictions to prevent products connected to forced labour from entering their countries.
Despite efforts by governments to prevent supply chains from being exposed to elements of forced labour from Xinjiang, some analysts think businesses need to clearly express their concerns to Beijing, according to the VOA.
"In an ideal world, businesses would make clear at the highest level to the Chinese government that this is going to be a problem unless businesses can have their staff conduct due diligence freely to ensure there isn't forced labour in their supply chains," said William Nee, research and advocacy coordinator at Chinese Human Rights Defenders, a US-based activist network, in a telephonic interview.
Yalkun Uluyol, a researcher at Sheffield Hallam University, said companies "must stop directly or indirectly sourcing anything made in the Uyghur region, in part or whole, to ensure their products are free of Uyghur forced labour." (ANI)