“Parliament strongly condemns the Chinese government-led system of forced labor – particularly the exploitation of Uighurs, Kazakhs and Kyrgyz and other Muslim minority groups – in factories inside and outside internment camps in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. “The EU body said in a statement on Friday.
The statement denounced “the continued transfer of forced laborers to other Chinese administrative divisions and the fact that well-known European brands and companies have benefited from Chinese forced labor.”
Earlier this month, the United States blocked imports of cotton from Xinjiang due to forced labor problems. U.S. President-elect Joe Biden has also condemned the treatment of minorities in the region.
The U.S. State Department estimates that more than a million Uyghurs, as well as members of other Muslim minority groups, have been detained in an extensive network of internment camps in Xinjiang, where they are believed to be “subjected to torture, cruel and inhuman treatment such as physical and sexual abuse, forced labor and death.” Former detainees have told CNN that they have experienced political indoctrination and abuse within the camps, such as food and sleep deprivation and forced injections.
On Thursday, members of the EU parliament expressed concern over what they described as an “increasingly oppressive regime” in Beijing. The body’s statement urges China to “end the practice of arbitrary detention without charge, trial or conviction for crimes of members of the Uyghur and other Muslim minorities.”
“A vote that will be heard across Europe and also in Beijing,” EU Member of Parliament Reinhard Bütikofer replied on Thursday.