Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region

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Submission for the 2026 Trafficking in Persons Report

February 27, 2026

The Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region submits observations and recommendations in response to the Department of State’s request for information for the 2026 Trafficking in Persons Report. This submission evaluates the Government of China’s efforts during the reporting period against the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) Minimum Standards and relevant international anti-trafficking obligations. The Coalition responds to Questions 1–4 and 10 of the Department’s Request for Information.

Given the scale and institutional integration of these forced labor systems, meaningful progress toward meeting the TVPA Minimum Standards would require structural reforms that ensure voluntariness, independent oversight, and accountability.

The Coalition offers the following recommendations for consideration:

  1. End quota-driven labor transfer targets and ensure that employment participation is genuinely voluntary and free from administrative or security-based penalties.
  2. Establish independent labor inspection and complaint mechanisms with authority to investigate allegations of coercion, including access for independent experts and  technical engagement with the International Labour Organization.
  3. Investigate and prosecute officials or entities implicated in coercive labor mobilization practices.
  4. Ensure non-punishment protections so that individuals who decline participation in state-sponsored employment programs are not subject to detention, administrative penalties, or other adverse consequences.
  5. Permit independent monitoring and reporting, including access for journalists, researchers, and relevant UN mechanisms.

In addition, the Coalition recommends that, in assessing prevention efforts under the TVPA Minimum Standards, the TIP Report consider whether governments have enacted and effectively enforced prohibitions on the importation of goods produced with forced labor, including region-specific rebuttable presumptions in contexts where forced labor is credibly documented as systematic. Robust supply-chain enforcement mechanisms, comparable in rigor to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), demonstrate how demand-side controls can function as meaningful trafficking prevention tools.

Read the full submission.

Photo by Tony Webster on Wikimedia.