Research shows there is widespread use of Uyghur forced labour within the information and communication technology (ICT) industry:

• The Chinese government is actively promoting the transfer of electronics manufacturing to the Uyghur Region and is increasing production of a wide range of electronic parts and consumer electronics.
• Uyghur forced labour is linked to the production of touchscreens, fingerprint recognition, smart car technologies, printed circuit boards (PCBs), power and signal transformers, connectors, wiring harnesses, and custom magnetic solutions. 
• Priority areas of pairing programs, where mainland provinces are partnered with specific areas in the Uyghur Region for opening factories and receiving forced labour transfers, include electronics manufacturing and mining of rare earth metals that are used in consumer electronics.
• Multiple large electronics manufacturing companies in China have been found to have participated in state-sponsored labor transfers, including the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer.
• Over 100 global brands, including those in the technology sector, have potentially directly or indirectly benefited from forced labour schemes in the Uyghur Region.

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 Labor Database (accessed July 2022) and the Reports page of the Coalition website.

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

Key Resources

• China’s Economy Runs on Uyghur Forced Labour, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (May 2025)
• Did Coerced Labour Build Your Car?, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism and Pulitzer Center (May 2025) 
• Evidence Briefs, Sheffield Hallam University (June 2023)
• 23 Major Brands Suspected of Illegally Sourcing Products Made by Forced Labor in China, Insider (Dec 2022) 
• State Imposed Forced Labor in China, Swedish Buyers’ Monitoring of Electronics Supply Chains (Dec 2021)
• US Electronics Firm Struck Deal to Transport and Hire Uyghur Workers, Reuters (Oct 2021)
• Chinese Suppliers to Apple, Nike Shun Xinjiang Workers as U.S. Forced-Labor Ban Looms, Wall Street Journal (Jul 2021)
• Addressing Forced Labor in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region: Toward a Shared Agenda, Center for Strategic and International Studies (Jul 2020)
• Gadgets for Tech Giants Made with Coerced Uighur Labor, Associated Press (Mar 2020)
• Global Supply Chains, Forced Labor, and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Congressional-Executive Commission on China (Mar 2020)
• Uyghurs for Sale, Australian Strategic Policy Institute (Mar 2020)

In September 2022, the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre sought responses to the four above questions from these companies. Of the ten companies, only six (60%) responded. The Coalition will be following up with these companies about their actions to remove Uyghur forced labour across their supply chain. See all company responses here.

• Apple (no response)
• Cisco Systems (response)
• Dell (response)
• Google (response)
• HP (response)
• Intel (no response)
• Microsoft (no response)
• Nvidia (response)
• Samsung (no response)
• Sony (response)

Photo by Alexandre Debieve on Unsplash