Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region

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Photo Credit: Lenny Kuhne, Unsplash

Automotive Industry

Virtually the entire automotive industry is tainted by Uyghur forced labour.

Updated July 2025

The global automotive industry is deeply implicated in Uyghur forced labour – from raw materials mining and processing to auto parts manufacturing for both traditional and electric vehicles. 

  • The government of China is actively moving the processing of raw materials and manufacturing of automotive parts into the Uyghur Region. 
  • Production and processing of key metals in car manufacturing, including steel, aluminium, and copper, are heavily reliant on Uyghur forced labour and are environmentally damaging and energy-intensive. The production of all three metals in the Region is reportedly linked with Uyghur forced labour. 
  • The Uyghur Region alone accounts for approximately 10% of the world’s global aluminium production and hosts the world’s largest steel supplier and copper supplier. Aluminium production in the Uyghur Region has grown from approximately one million tons in 2010 to six million tons in 2022. 
  • The Uyghur Region is being developed into a centre for lithium extraction, and lithium processing and production are increasing as well. EV components, including lithium-ion batteries, are increasingly at high risk of being produced with Uyghur forced labour.  
  • Car parts such as batteries, for both internal combustion engine and electric vehicle battery cars, wheels, tires, glass, interiors, electronics, and other parts sourced from the Uyghur Region could be linked to forced labour.
  • As of 2022, 96 mining, processing, or manufacturing companies were operating in the Uyghur Region. 38 of these were found to have participated in state-sponsored labour transfer programs. 
  • Over 100 international manufacturers of automotive parts or cars have some exposure to materials or products made with Uyghur forced labour. In 2022, two leading EV manufacturers were reported to have begun production in the Region. More than 30 major car manufacturers continue to be linked with parts tainted with Uyghur forced labour from touchscreens to engines as of 2025. 
  • Thousands of Uyghur, Kazakh, and Kyrgyz workers have been forcibly transferred across China under state-sponsored labour transfer schemes — producing everything from touchscreens and lighting to engines.
  • Global automakers were found to apply weaker human rights and responsible sourcing standards at their Chinese joint ventures than in their global operations. Research indicates automakers have done too little to fully map out their supply chains for aluminium parts and minimise the risks of links to Uyghur forced labour in their supply chains. 
  • Auto companies are also relying on flawed audits and certifications that are not designed to identify and address the risks of state-imposed forced labour in their supply chains. 

Regulatory developments have made the demands of the Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region a legal requirement. In 2022, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) came into force, which establishes a rebuttable presumption that the importation of any goods, wares, articles, and merchandise mined, produced, or manufactured wholly, or in part, in the Uyghur Region, or produced by certain entities implicated in forced labour, is prohibited by Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 and not entitled to entry to the United States. The UFLPA, in effect, codifies into law the central elements of the Coalition’s Call to Action. 

The European Union’s Forced Labour Regulation will prevent the trade of goods made with forced labour and covers both the import of goods and the trade of goods within and from the EU bloc. In the UK, the Court of Appeal ruled that companies that knowingly or with suspicion import goods made under criminal circumstances—such as through Uyghur forced labour—can now be prosecuted under the Proceeds of Crime Act for trading criminal property.  

Only by taking the actions enumerated in the Call to Action can companies act responsibly and prevent their supply chains from being linked to the forced labour of Uyghurs and other Turkic and Muslim-majority peoples.

Read the Call to Action

 

The Coalition is demanding that companies, including those without a US market: 

  • Commit to apply a single global standard, aligned with the legal requirements set forth in the UFLPA, to exclude Uyghur forced labour across its supply chains, and not to bifurcate its supply chains where one supply chain is tainted by Uyghur forced labour and one is compliant with the UFLPA and free of Uyghur forced labour.
  • Commit to not re-exporting goods detained under the auspices of the UFLPA to other markets and attempt to sell those goods in other markets.

These demands are made in consideration of existing and forthcoming laws in other jurisdictions, particularly the EU and EU Member States, and to raise business standards globally.

[1] Data sourced from the Jewish World Watch Uyghur Forced Labour Database and the Reports page of the Coalition website.

For automotive companies wishing to speak with the Coalition, please email [email protected].

 

Key Resources

Photo by Lenny Kuhne on Unsplash