China placed in lowest category for forced labour in "horrendous conditions" on BRI: US

In yet another revelation exposing China's atrocities on its own citizens, a United States report revealed that China frequently makes use of force on its citizens to work in "horrendous conditions" for its highly ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects. Due to the Chinese communist regime's pattern of forced labour, the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report 2020 by the US has placed China in the Tier-3 [lowest ranking] category for the third consecutive year.

The report consists of Tier-1, Tier-2, Tier-2 watchlist and Tier-3 category and the countries who comply with the minimum standards set for keeping control over human trafficking are placed in Tier-1, who those countries who don't meet the standards fully but are making significant efforts to comply with the standards are kept in Tier-2 category.

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State-sponsored pattern of forced labour

US Secretary of the State, Mike Pompeo unveiled the report and said, "Our Trafficking in Persons Report calls out a group of nations with a state-sponsored pattern of forced labour. Among them is China, where the CCP and its state-owned enterprises often forcing citizens to work in horrendous conditions on Belt and Road project."

The report by the US states, "Despite the lack of significant efforts, the government took some steps to address trafficking, including by prosecuting and convicting some traffickers and by continuing to cooperate with international authorities to address forced and fraudulent marriages in the PRC, a key trafficking vulnerability for foreign women and girls."

The US administration states that during the reporting period, officials found that the Communist Party of China (CPC) indulged in forced labour with mass detention of millions of Uyghur, ethnic Kazakhs, ethnic Kyrgyz and other Muslims in Xinjiang.

Another report issued by the US Department of the State stated that under the pretext of Counter-Terrorism, China detains and carries out a repressive campaign against millions of Uighurs and members of other Muslim minority groups in internment camps in Xinjiang.

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It said China's response to terrorism "remained difficult to distinguish from the government's suppression of peaceful activities that authorities deemed separatist or subversive in nature".

China is facing widespread criticism for its human rights issues as the country is forcefully implementing the new security law in Hong Kong too, which undermines the one country two systems that the country has been following so far. It has caught the attention of the world and many countries such as the US, Canada, and the UK among others have taken strong objection to the security law. China has detained many among the youth in Hong Kong under the excuse of law and order in order to prevent the young Hong Kongers to protest peacefully.

(With ANI inputs)