In light of the COVID-19 outbreak that started in Wuhan, China there has been heightened scrutiny of the country’s questionable business practices and allegations of basic human rights violations.

According to a new report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a non-partisan think tank, China’s been accused of forcing Uyghur Muslims to work at factories that produce goods for well-known global companies including Apple, Nike, BMW, Samsung, Sony and Volkswagen.

The Chinese government has previously been condemned for their practice of detaining an estimated million people, most of them Uyghurs, in internment camps. These so-called camps are basically prisons for the Uyghurs. The people are held involuntarily and subjected to forced ideological and behavioral re-education.

The report documents that the Chinese government moved large numbers of the Uyghurs and other ethnic minority groups to factories across the country. Over the last few years the Chinese government allocated approximately 80,000 Uyghurs to factories across the country where they work “under conditions that strongly suggest forced labor.” The Uyghurs produce an array of different parts and products on behalf of roughly 83 well-known international brands.

The report offers a harrowing insight into the conditions faced by the Uyghurs. In one of the shoe and sneaker factories in eastern China the site has watchtowers, barbed-wire fences and police guard boxes.

Forbes, 2020/03/05