Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region

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Virtually any workplace within the Uyghur Region is at significant risk of forced labour. 

Updated July 2025

Given the widespread and systemic use of Uyghur forced labour in the Uyghur Region and other regions in China, there are significant risks of Uyghur forced labour in numerous sectors beyond apparel and textiles, information and communication technology, solar, automotive, and critical minerals. Other sectors at high risk include, but are not limited to: tomatoes, seafood, chicken, electronics, toys, hair and beauty products, paper pulp, PVC, aluminum, and gold. 

  • Over the past decade, tens of thousands of people have been forcibly transferred from the Uyghur Region to at least 75 factories across 11 regions in other parts of China, supplying parts and products found across global supply chains — everything from LCD screens, keyboards, and car parts to sneakers and processed chicken. 
  • Cotton from the Uyghur Region is being processed into cottonseed meal and fed to livestock, which is then processed into meat. Uyghurs have been forcibly transferred to work at least 8 chicken processing plants in China. 
  • More than a thousand Uyghur people have been transferred from the Uyghur Region to work in forced labour conditions in at least ten major seafood processing hubs in Shandong, China. In 2023, the supply chains of nearly 100 global retailers were linked to seafood companies in the Uyghur Region
  • China grows about a third of the world’s tomatoes, and most of China’s tomatoes are grown in the Uyghur Region.
  • Four out of ten of the top gold companies in China reportedly own gold mines and refineries in the Uyghur Region. All four are alleged to have received state-sponsored labour transfers.  
  • The Uyghur Region is China’s top aluminium-producing region and accounts for 9-12% of the world’s global aluminium production.
  • More than 10% of the world’s polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastics used in building materials are manufactured in the Uyghur Region as of 2022.
  • State pension funds and sovereign wealth funds from Europe and North America are providing financial support to companies operating factories 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.

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

 

Key Resources

 

Photo by Lianhao Qu on Unsplash