China and Tibet

VOICEOVER:

Do you have a car?  

If so, then parts of your car could be made with forced labor from China. 

Let's explain how. 

The first thing you need to know is that factories in China make the most cars in the world.

Major brands such as General Motors, Tesla, BYD, Toyota, and Volkswagen manufacture and sell cars in China.  

Factories in China are also increasingly exporting cars and car parts to global markets. 

So where does the forced labor come in?  

Well, almost 10 percent of the world’s aluminum, a key material for car making, is produced in the Xinjiang region of China. 

Xinjiang is home to the Uyghurs, a predominantly Muslim Turkic ethnic group whose culture and language are different from China’s majority Han population.  

The Chinese government has long repressed Uyghurs and in recent years committed crimes against humanity in Xinjiang.  

The government’s abuses include: 

• An estimated one million arbitrary detentions. 
• an intrusive mass surveillance system 
• (and) cultural and religious persecution 

The Chinese government has also subjected Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim communities to forced labor, both in detention centers and through labor transfer programs. 

Labor transfers relocate Uyghurs from their homes in rural areas to urban areas to work in factories.  

Teams of government officials go door-to-door to identify candidates for transfers.  

Human Rights Watch and other organizations analyzed hundreds of Chinese government and company documents available online, and found links between Xinjiang’s aluminum producers and labor transfers.

Uyghurs fear detention or other sanctions if they refuse the transfers, so there’s little choice but to accept the jobs and relocate.  

Labor transfer workers frequently face ideological indoctrination and limits on their freedom of movement.  

So how could aluminum produced by forced labor end up in your car?  

Aluminum from Xinjiang is exported to other regions of China, where it is melted down again, enabling it to enter global supply chains undetected.

And maybe into the car that you use.  

Car companies are aware of the Chinese government’s repression of Uyghurs and the risk of forced labor in their supply chain. 

But some carmakers have succumbed to Chinese government pressure to apply weaker human rights and responsible sourcing standards in their operations in China.

Consumers should not have to buy or drive vehicles with links to grave abuses in Xinjiang.  

So, what can be done?  

When looking to buy a new car, consumers should ask manufacturers how they protect against links to human rights abuses, including forced labor in Xinjiang.

Car companies should require their suppliers, in China and elsewhere, to prove the source of raw materials and show they are free from human rights violations. 

Countries should require companies to disclose their supply chains and prohibit the import of products containing parts or materials produced by forced labor. 

The cars we drive shouldn’t be made with forced labor. 

John Sifton, Asia Advocacy Director of Human Rights Watch (onsite): So this entire area… on top of what used to be Sre Kor village. It was completely flooded after the Lower Sesan 2 Dam was completed in 2017.

Narration: The ­Lower Sesan 2 dam is one of the widest dams in Asia. The project is part of the Chinese government’s mammoth “Belt and Road Initiative,” an investment and infrastructure project that the government began under President Xi Jinping in 2013 to advance Chinese foreign policy interests globally.

Narration: Flooding of the dam’s reservoir inundated numerous communities and damaged the ecology of the region. In addition, about 5,000 people, mostly Indigenous or ethnic minorities lost their homes.

John Sifton, Human Rights Watch (onsite): Most of the villagers didn’t have appropriate compensation. Some who were relocated that now live in an area quite far from here and pretty disappointed what happened to their village.

Narration: Much of the damage and devastation the dam would bring was known before it was built, and locals voiced their concerns even then.

Community video statements:

Woman: We were worried about relocating and moving our homes, cows, water buffalos, pigs, and chickens.

Man: We are also worried about our rice fields, crops, the hospital, school and the Srepok river.

Man: I am very worried about this situation. I am deeply troubled about losing my fields and land.

Woman: We do not want to move away because we have well-made valuable houses. We have coconut trees, mango trees, and everything. If we live at a new place, we won’t have coconuts and mangos to sell anymore.

Narration: Many of those displaced were moved to areas that lacked clean water and the soil was not well-suited for farming. They received inadequate compensation for the loss of their homes or income. Tens of thousands whose livelihoods depended on fishing on the rivers around the dam, suffered enormous losses in income. 

Thong Sa Morn: For my family living in this new village, we don’t really make money. In the old village, I was a farmer. Sometimes I would fish, in addition to working on the farm. You know that in the old village my house was right next to the river and my work is next to the river.

Narration: The dam has decimated the fish population in a country where fish makes up 60 to 75 % of the protein of the Cambodian diet.

John Sifton onsite: So we’re in a village on the Sre Kor river. Some villagers said they used to catch up to 40 kilos of fish a night. Now they sometimes struggle to get 10klmoften less than that. The fish are also smaller and fetch less money. Sometimes only a dollar a kilo and they’re struggling to survive.

Narration: The companies involved in the Lower Sesan 2 project, as well as the Cambodian and Chinese governments that authorized the project, should review the project’s impact urgently and allocate significant new resources to remedy the harms they have caused.

Narration: As the Chinese government finances other Belt and Road projects, whether in Cambodia or elsewhere, government and company officials need to take far greater steps to protect the human rights of affected communities and compensate them when they’re harmed.

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