In Xinjiang, Chinese govt is the trafficker, says US State Dept report

A total of 11 governments around the world including China, has a documented "policy or pattern" of human trafficking, and forced labour, said a report released by US State Department on Thursday.

In the "2021 Trafficking in Persons" (TIP) report, the US government said that the Chinese government had a government policy or pattern of widespread forced labor, including through the continued mass arbitrary detention of more than one million Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, ethnic Kyrgyz, and other Muslims in the Xinjiang.

According to the report, Chinese authorities continued to implement these policies in other provinces, targeted other religious minorities under their auspices, and sought the coerced repatriation and internment of minorities living abroad through the use of surveillance, harassment and threats.

The report further stated that China has carried out mass detention and political indoctrination campaign against Uyghurs in Xinjiang in the last four years.

"In Xinjiang, the government is the trafficker. Authorities use threats of physical violence, forcible drug intake, physical and sexual abuse, and torture to force detainees to work in adjacent or off-site factories or worksites producing garments, footwear, carpets, yarn, food products, holiday decorations, building materials, extractives, materials for solar power equipment and other renewable energy components, consumer electronics, bedding, hair products, cleaning supplies, personal protective equipment, face masks, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and other goods--and these goods are finding their way into businesses and homes around the world," the report said.

The report also urged governments, companies, and consumers to help eliminate human trafficking from global supply chains by acting against the use of forced labor in Xinjiang.

China has been globally rebuked for cracking down on Uyghur Muslims by sending them to mass detention camps to undergo some form of forcible "re-education or indoctrination". Despite mounting evidence, China continues to deny mistreatment of Uyghurs and goes on to insist it is simply running "vocational training" centres designed to counter extremism.

Other than China, the 2021 TIP report named Afghanistan, Burma, Cuba, Eritrea, North Korea, Iran, Russia, South Sudan, Syria, and Turkmenistan -- with a documented "policy or pattern" of human trafficking, trafficking in government-funded programs, forced labor in government-affiliated medical services or other sectors, sexual slavery in government camps, or the employment or recruitment of child soldiers.

( With inputs from ANI )