Beijing is accused of subjecting the Uyghur Muslim minority to forced labor. This ratification by China was one of the conditions imposed by the European Union to validate an investment agreement.
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Posted on 4/20/2022 2:39 PM Updated on 4/20/2022 3:27 PM
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China on Wednesday (April 20) ratified the International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions banning forced labour. Beijing has been accused of using this form of labor in the Xinjiang region, where at least a million Uyghurs and members of other Muslim ethnic groups are imprisoned in camps, according to human rights organizations. Beijing says they are vocational training centers designed to dissuade them from terrorism and separatism.
China was one of the very few countries that had not ratified (in English) these ILO conventions adopted in 1930 and 1959. The European Union had asked China to finally adopt these texts in order to ratify a bilateral investment agreement, which was signed at the end of 2020.
The issue of forced labor worries the international community: in December 2021, the United States passed a law banning the purchase of products made from forced labor by Uyghurs. In January, the National Assembly almost unanimously passed a resolution calling the Chinese regime’s violence against Uyghurs “crimes against humanity” and “genocide.” China then denounced “willful defamation and stigmatization (…) and brutal interference”. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, is expected to travel to China in May for a long-awaited visit.