Apple said it has “found no evidence of forced labor anywhere we operate.”Īmazon works with over 1,900 suppliers and says it conducts thousands of supply chain assessments every year, including on prospective manufacturers it may work with in the future.ĭarren Byler, an international studies professor at Simon Fraser University in Canada and the author of the book “ Terror Capitalism: Uyghur Dispossession and Masculinity in a Chinese City,” said Uyghurs are typically sent in batches of around 50 people to factories in other Chinese cities, which may be hundreds or thousands of miles away from their families and homes. Using public government documents and state media reports, the Tech Transparency Project, China Labor Watch and the tech news site The Information reported in May that Apple had worked with seven Chinese suppliers that allegedly participated in the labor transfer programs. Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said in a statement that “employment of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang is independent, voluntary and free.” He called reports suggesting otherwise “groundless.”Ī number of Silicon Valley giants, including Apple, have been accused by journalists and researchers in recent years of working with companies that use forced Uyghur labor. In December, President Joe Biden signed a law instructing officials to treat all imports from Xinjiang as tainted by forced labor unless proven otherwise.īeijing has repeatedly rejected criticisms of its policies in Xinjiang.
Some of the facilities reportedly have factories built inside them. The workers are often taken from their family homes and generally have few rights, according to researchers.Īmerican companies are under increased pressure to ensure their supply chains don’t trace back to Xinjiang, where human rights groups estimate roughly 1 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other ethnic minorities have been detained in internment camps. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a think tank, estimates that from 2017 to 2019, at least 80,000 people from Xinjiang, a mostly Muslim region, were coerced to work in factories across the country as part of what the Chinese government calls “labor transfer” programs. Feature China / Barcroft Media via Getty Images file
Whenever we find or receive proof of forced labor, we take action.” A farmer picks cotton in the field in Hami in northwest China's Xinjiang Region on Oct. We take allegations of human rights abuses seriously, including those related to the use or export of forced labor. In a general statement, Erika Reynoso, a spokesperson for the company, said: “Amazon complies with the laws and regulations in all jurisdictions in which it operates, and expects suppliers to adhere to our Supply Chain Standards.
“The findings raise questions about Amazon’s exposure to China’s repression of minority Uyghurs in Xinjiang - and the extent to which the e-commerce giant is adequately vetting its supplier relationships,” researchers from the Tech Transparency Project wrote in the report.Īmazon declined to comment on the specific allegations. The report also warned that some of Amazon’s third-party sellers may be offering products made using labor from the western Chinese region of Xinjiang, such as cotton imports that are already the subject of U.S.
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