Chinese firm transfers thousands of Uyghurs from Xinjiang to other areas for work

A Chinese company has reportedly sent more than 3,000 Uyghur workers including minors from the Xinjiang region to factories in other parts of the country to 'work', an investigation report informed.

Radio Free Asia began the investigation after an advertisement circulated on Chinese apps 'Weibo' and 'WeChat' informed that more than 2,000 Uyghurs -- aged 16 to 30, with good Mandarin Chinese skills, and vocational school degrees are 'available' to work for two years at sites throughout the country.

The advertisement was from a Chinese recruitment company which send labour in different parts of the country.

After contacting the company, a woman who answered said the ad was posted by her 'job-placement' company in Sichuan province's Liangxian prefecture and informed that the company has sent thousands of workers from Kashgar (in Chinese, Kashi) to two different locations in China, as reported by Radio Free Asia.

"All of them are from Kashgar -- Uyghurs," she said, referring to the oasis city in southern Xinjiang with a population of more than 7,00,000.

The Uyghurs were transferred in June to two locations in Nanjing, Jiangsu province.

The employee also informed that about 30 per cent of the workers transferred from Kashgar to Nanjing were between the ages of 16 and 18.

Meanwhile, many of the Uyghurs were also transferred to what Beijing refers as 'education camps'.

Earlier Radio Free Asia's investigations into forced Uyghur labour in Kashgar had revealed that nine former camp detainees had been working as porters for a freight company at a loading dock in Kashgar city.

Reports have also informed that about 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities are believed to have been a part of Beijing's camp system since 2017.

The detainees are held against their will and endure inhumane treatment and political indoctrination, Radio Free Asia reported.

( With inputs from ANI )