China is global hotspot for goods made by forced, child labour, says US Labor Dept report

The US Department of Labor in a report released on Wednesday said that China is the leading global hotspot for the goods' manufacturing by forced labour and abusive child labour. US Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia in a statement said that the list illustrates "Beijing's disturbing role - the world's second-largest economy- in sponsoring these exploitative practices." "Forced labour and abusive child labour are dehumanizing, ruining lives and families," he added. The list for these goods is part of a broader US government's effort to address forced labour in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where more than one million Uighurs and other ethnic and religious minorities have been detained, the US Labor Department said.

'Child labour is dehumanizing'

"Estimates range from at least 100,000 to possibly hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities in China who may be working in conditions of forced labour following detention in Chinese Communist Party re-education camps," the release further stated. The Labor Department has in the past highlighted its growing concern over Uighurs' treatment in Xinjiang. 

READ | Germany welcomes China climate goal, sees need for EU action

Last week, The New York Times had reported that China while continuing its attempt to wipe out the Uyghur ethnic community, in recent years have closed and demolished many places of worship. Several major shrines, mosques and other holy structures across Xinjiang that have long preserved the culture and Islamic beliefs of the region’s Muslims now stand as rubbles. Citing a report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), The New York Times reported that around 8,500 mosques across Xinjiang have been completely demolished since 2017 - more than a third of the number of mosques the government says are in the region.

China accused of razing religious sites

READ | US House approves second bill aimed at forced labor in China

The Uyghurs, a Turkic-speaking minority from Central Asia, are a distinct ethnic group from Han Chinese, with Urumqi being closer to Kabul than Beijing. In 2009, the most infamous riots broke out in the streets of Urumqi, Xinjiang which pitted Uyghur Muslims against Han Chinese. The CCP government has turned the entire region into a highly controlled, open-air prison after the Urumqi riots in 2009. The CCP has turned the region into a "brutal totalitarian police state" and everything unique about Uyghurs is "systematically targeted". There have been growing calls for action against the Chinese officials involved in human rights violations in Xinjiang. The US had recently imposed sanctions and visa restrictions against senior officials over human rights violations in Xinjiang. (With ANI inputs)

READ | India-China WMCC meeting held on LAC faceoff; 7th round of talks soon

READ | Pompeo urges Vatican to condemn human rights abuses in China