New Report Links Major Producers of Critical Minerals to Uyghur Forced Labour
Findings implicate the aerospace and renewable energy industries as well as consumer goods ranging from electronics to paint to titanium thermoses
June 11, 2025
Companies using key critical minerals must immediately cut ties with the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (Uyghur Region), after new research finds evidence that numerous industries remain reliant on the Uyghur Region for these minerals, said the Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region. A new report by Global Rights Compliance (GRC), Risk at the Source: Critical Mineral Supply Chains and State-Imposed Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region, focuses on four critical minerals – titanium, lithium, beryllium, and magnesium – describing how the government of China has invested heavily in expanding critical minerals exploration, mining, processing, and manufacturing in the Uyghur Region. Extractive companies operating in the Uyghur Region rely heavily on state-sponsored, coercive labour transfer schemes. The report lists well-known brands in the US, EU, and UK; these companies must ensure no parts, components, inputs, or materials in their critical minerals supply chains are linked to the Uyghur Region.
State-imposed forced labour programmes are a primary nexus through which the Chinese government is perpetrating its persecution of Uyghurs and other Turkic and Muslim-majority peoples. Labour transfers now constitute the principal forced labour system in the Uyghur Region, which has become increasingly embedded within state policy and regional economic planning. Several UN experts have assessed forced labour in the Uyghur Region and wider abuses (including related discriminatory detention) as possibly constituting crimes against humanity, including the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
“GRC’s report should spur urgent action from the numerous industries reliant on critical mineral inputs,” said Rahima Mahmut, Executive Director of Stop Uyghur Genocide. “Lack of action on supply chain links to Uyghur forced labour risks running afoul of the US Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act and the EU Forced Labour Regulation, as well as future forced labour legislation in other jurisdictions.”
GRC’s research links major Chinese producers of four minerals to the Region’s system of state-imposed forced labour and then traces these supply chains to well-known international brands and retailers:
- Titanium is a key input for the automotive, aerospace, and medical applications sectors, as well as for an array of consumer goods. The report states that the Uyghur Region accounts for approximately 17% of China’s titanium sponge production and more than 11% of global production, and links titanium processed in the Region to major paint companies and brands selling insulated mugs.
- Lithium is essential in electric vehicles, energy storage, and in electronic devices. Lithium exploration, mining, processing, and downstream battery production are increasing rapidly in the Region. The report notes that Uyghur Region-based manufacturers have produced hundreds of millions of lithium-based batteries for consumer and industrial use, including for smartphones, tablets, power tools, energy storage, automobiles, wind turbines, and servomotors.
- Beryllium is used in the aerospace, defence, telecommunications, and electronics industries. The report states that 83.5% of China’s beryllium reserves are in the Region and that China accounts for 22% of global beryllium mine production.
- Magnesium is an input in aluminium alloys and magnesium from the Region likely affects the automotive, aerospace, and electronics industries. The Uyghur Region accounted for 5.6% of China’s smelted magnesium production in 2024, a figure that is expected to double this year.
“Our findings demonstrate that critical minerals from the Uyghur Region continue to enter the Western supply chains of major companies across a vast number of industries,” said Caroline Dale, Principal Researcher at Global Rights Compliance.
Ending state-imposed forced labour of the Uyghur people requires a global response. Governments must adopt and implement forced labour import bans, which are crucial to ensuring forced-labour-made goods do not have access to markets. Such legislation must include a rebuttable presumption of forced labour on goods from a region or on specific product groups from specified countries or regions where there is state-imposed forced labour.
Forced labour import prohibitions should be paired with the adoption and implementation of mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence legislation. These laws should apply to both the private and public sector. Governments and companies that rely on critical minerals for the production of their goods have both the power and responsibility to take immediate action to eliminate reliance on Uyghur forced labour.
Further, given the importance of critical minerals to the transition to renewable energy, governments must introduce additional measures that will enable diversification of renewable energy technology supply chains. This should include the use of development finance and other financial incentives, in collaboration with the renewable sector, to develop alternative supplies of materials.