Products
The two main exports from the XUAR are steel and cotton. These supply chains reach all over the world -- you could be wearing cotton, or driving a car made from steel that was created by forced labor and not even know it.
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On this page you can find out more about each product.
Steel
In many areas of the world, cheap labor is used, yet the average consumer is unaware of the effects of manufacturing. Along with cotton, steel is fabricated by Uyghurs and the effects of the harsh work they endure is alarming. Due to the effects of working in unsafe steel mines, the Uyghur people are put in danger by the Chinese government who force them to work and also the Americans who buy products using their labor.
Many companies that sell in the US use Uyghur labor, especially in steel-work. PVC building materials and solar panels are most likely Uyghur-made. Additionally, an investigation from the British University of Sheffield Hallam records, “The world’s largest steel and aluminum producers have moved to the Uyghur region thanks to Chinese government subsidies and incentives” and “If you bought a car in the last five years, some of its parts were probably made by Uyghurs, forced to work”. Car brands especially guilty of using this steel are Tesla, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and Toyota, which are found to be acquiring their steel from Uyghur factories.
The Uyghur region alone represents 10% of the world's aluminum manufacturing and is the world’s largest steel supplier. Car frames, wheels, brakes, interiors, batteries and windshields are manufactured using Uyghur labor and used in American cars. Data from the Metallurgical Industry Information Center, Xinjiang's Iron and Steel Co. explain that the Uyghur Region has a year-on-year increase of 62.3% of material which indicates growth and production of steel around the world. The development of steel in the Uyghur region of Xinjiang will increase and consequently so will the suffering of the innocent group.
The effects of steel-making are severe and dangerous. The Uyghur workers must endure exhausting hours in many strenuous conditions, which could lead to harsh muscle pain and often fractures. Additionally, dangerous chemicals may result in blindness and lung damage. Asbestos exposure is a chemical hazard present in steel mills in Xinjiang. Carbon monoxide leeks are regular, leading to poisoning. Because it binds to hemoglobin in the bloodstream, reducing the blood’s ability to carry oxygen, carbon monoxide leaks can be fatal. Due to the health challenges Uyghurs face, the life expectancy in this region is 70, about 7 years less than the life expectancy of the US. The Xinjiang province has the highest incidence and also mortality rate of cervical cancer and also other diseases such as lung cancer, colon cancer, stomach cancer, leukemia and benzene. Uyghurs have a higher risk of mesothelioma because stainless steel welding fumes contain chromium compounds, seen in lung carcinogens.
Both China, by enslaving the Uyghur people, and America, by using and selling Uyghur-made products, are guilty of contributing to the genocide of Uyghurs. Forced steel work has drastic effects on the physical health of the Uyghur people, and also the mental health. Conditions and toxins of working in the steel mines can lead to cancers and other severe illnesses. In order to combat this issue, which is hundreds of miles away from the United States, domestically we can research which companies use Uyghur-made products and limit their sale. Internationally, we must sign petitions against companies that are aware of their negative impact, and care more about their profit than human lives.
Cotton
Uyghur-sourced cotton is part of supply chains around the world, including many US companies. China is the largest global supplier of cotton, having been producing 20% of the world’s cotton for close to for decades now, and 90% of it is grown in Xinjiang. Around 6 million metric tons of cotton are produced each year in China; 5.4 metric tons in Xinjiang alone.
Though there is little information we can gather about the day-to-day existence of the Uyghurs in China, it has been confirmed that the Chinese government relocates men and women – unwillingly – to cotton fields, where very few are paid. The few who do get paid for their long hours of brutal work earn around 15 cents per day or less. Separated from their families, the Ughyurs are subject to intensive surveillance while working, and state media reports that the cotton picked in Xinjiang is not machine-harvested – all 5.4 metric tons is picked by hand. Working in cotton mills and fields, especially for long hours, is grueling, and often causes Byssinosis; wheezing and dyspnea caused by inhalation of cotton particles.
Clothing brands from around the world contribute to this forced Ughyur labor by purchasing cotton from Xinjiang for and using it in their products. Companies reported as using cotton sourced in Xinjiang include: Versace, Jimmy Choo, Michael Kors, Chanel, Hanes, Hermes, Gucci, Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Alexander McQueen, Kate Spade, Brioni, Levi’s, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Fendi, Givenchy, Celine, Timberland, Dickies, Vans, Theory, Sephora, Coach, Fila, LL Bean, Hugo Boss, Lacoste, The North Face, Skechers, Tommy Hilfiger, Victoria’s Secret, Zara, Zegna, Anta, Jansport, and more.
As of October 2021, Hugo Boss said that its new collections “have been verified in line with our global standard again,” and also that it “does not tolerate forced labor.” In 2020, Puma stated that it had “no direct or indirect business relationship with any manufacturer in Xinjiang, aligning with Adidas’s statement in the same year, that they had no “had no contractual relationship with any Xinjiang supplier.” However, despite the companies’ declaration of innocence regarding Ughyur forced labor, new innovative cotton DNA isotope testing that the US has implemented evidences guilt. “The isotopic fingerprints in the cotton are unambiguous and can be differentiated from cotton sourced from other countries and even other Chinese regions,” said Markus Boner of Agroisolab to a German public broadcaster.
The United States has taken action to cease supporting forced labor through the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), which banned imports of cotton from Xinjiang. The act passed in December 2021, and has so far stopped billions of dollars worth of imports made by forced labor at the border. However, while this is a step in the correct direction, only a few other countries have followed suit, so the intended effect of ceasing the forced labor by removing its demand is limited. The US must now advocate for other countries to adopt this practice, in order to fully prevent the purchase of Uyghur-produced cotton, and ultimately, free the Uyghur people from their bondage.
Vinyl
This video displays how vinyl flooring is made, highlighting how dangerous chemicals affect work and the tragic background underneath the flooring.
Vinyl, a man made material widely used for flooring, is another common product of the Xinjiang region, and therefore, likely the result of forced labor. In 2020, Brittany Gwendolyn, an American content creator making home decor videos, researched her vinyl flooring’s supply chain. The results of her investigation were powerful enough to implore her followers to never purchase this product again, and write letters to the government urging them to take action.
Brittany went on to post about a thirty-year-old man named Abdurahman Matturdi, a Ughyur who was herded onto a bus branded with the words “Zhongtai Chemical.” Zhongtai Chemical Company is a Chinese-owned chemical firm, and one of the world’s largest producers of PVC, a necessary component of vinyl flooring. When factories across the world shut down due to COVID-19 precautions, Zhongtai’s Uyghur-populated factories were as busy as ever. Matturdi was forced to leave behind his newborn son and wife, board a bus for many hours without a hint about his destination, and move into a building where he was assigned a dormitory bed and given a military fatigue to wear.
Zhontgai, closely tied to the Chinese Communist Party, reports that they have brought in 5,500 Ughyurs to work in their factory. In order to manufacture the vinyl flooring we Americans use, Zhongtai exerts an immense amount of greenhouse gasses and mercury, exposing workers to coal dust and vinyl chloride monomer, which cause liver tumors.
Ten percent of the global PVC supply is sourced from Xinjiang. Scott Nova, the Executive Director of the Worker Rights Consortium, states that “It [the problems with Zhongtia] has major implications for the retailers and marketers of flooring. And there are a lot of people walking around their homes right now on floors that are virtually certain to be made in part with forced labor.” Laptops, surgical masks, cotton, solar panels and wigs are other products that researchers and custom officials have found many Uyghur links to. PVC flooring, on the other hand, is slightly more detrimental, as it additionally causes severe health and environmental effects.
Jim Vallete, one of the authors of a June 2022 report by researchers at Sheffield Hallam University, entitled “Built on Repression,” said about the state of the workers living environments: “In those conditions, at that scale, where the state is in control of production and there’s no accounting for the impacts, it’s almost unimaginable what’s happening. There’s nothing like it on Earth in the combination of climate and toxic pollution. And workers are living there 24/7.”
In total, over two dozen companies have been exposed as using PVC from Zhongtai. Three of those are the Norwegian Government Pension Fund, Dimensional Fund Advisors, and Vanguard (who has also invested seven million dollars in Zhongtai.
