456,000 Uyghurs newly employed in Xinjiang, mostly in forced labour, experts say

China says that 456,000 people were newly employed during the first 10 months of the year in its far-western Xinjiang region, evidence it said showed that Beijing was successfully promoting economic development to create a “happy and harmonious” Uyghur society.

But Uyghur experts and activists said many of the jobs amounted to forced labor of people who had been detained – or were still detained – in a vast network of “re-education” camps where their human rights were routinely abused.

The primary objective of such arrangements is to subject them to Chinese surveillance and control throughout their workday, ultimately aiming at eradicating the Uyghur nation, some activists inform.

They explain that individuals compelled to work in factories in Xinjiang or in Chinese provinces are not voluntary participants. Instead, local authorities are using coercive measures, and many receive only a fraction of regular wages – which is internationally recognized as forced labor.

China desperately needs Uyghurs to fill these jobs, which lack technical complexity and are less favored by Chinese workers, these experts noted.

Over 11 million Uyghurs live in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in northwestern China, according to China’s 2020 census.