China News Service, Urumqi, October 20. Xinjiang Development Research Center released the "Investigation Report on Employment of Ethnic Minorities in Xinjiang" (referred to as "Investigation Report") on the 20th.
Relevant materials indicate that Xinjiang attaches great importance to the employment of ethnic minorities, respects the willingness of ethnic minorities to work, and organizes employment based on service.
Recently, some think tanks in the West have issued reports claiming that there is a phenomenon of “large-scale forced labor” in Xinjiang, and some politicians have also loudly advocated the “Xinjiang forced labor theory”.
So, does Xinjiang have what they call "forced labor"?
With this question in mind, the Xinjiang Development Research Center invited relevant experts and scholars to investigate the employment situation of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang.
The investigation team visited Xinjiang Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Karamay City, Kashgar Prefecture, Hotan Prefecture, Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture, Aksu Prefecture, Shihezi City, and more than 70 enterprises, rural labor cooperatives and individual entrepreneurs in places such as Beijing and Tianjin. Point, discussed and interviewed with more than 800 business managers, employees, self-employed and ethnic minorities, studied 26 government documents since 2016 and 48 related academic papers since 2005.
A comprehensive analysis believes that Xinjiang and inland provinces and cities, government departments at all levels, and relevant enterprises actively help Xinjiang ethnic minorities to find jobs, fully guaranteeing the basic rights of people of all ethnic groups such as labor rights and development rights, and people of all ethnic groups work voluntarily and choose jobs independently. , Free entrepreneurship, there is no so-called "large-scale forced labor phenomenon."
The arguments of some Western think tanks are incorrect, and the relevant arguments and basis are also unscientific.
The "Investigation Report" stated that governments at all levels in Xinjiang have established employment work leadership groups to coordinate employment work.
The investigation team analyzed the speeches of Xinjiang officials, government work reports, work plans and summaries in recent years and found that "emphasis on employment", "expansion of employment", "stabilization of employment", and "surplus rural laborers going out for employment" are frequent words.
In recent years, Xinjiang’s "Government Work Report" has made separate arrangements for employment work each year.
According to the “Investigation Report”, the government’s organization of ethnic minority people’s out-of-work employment is always based on voluntariness, and the people’s willingness to work is sought in advance, including employment areas, industry types and positions, training needs, etc. After the people voluntarily sign up, they will re-take the skills required for the job. Training, such a workflow is clearly stated and emphasized in government documents.
For individuals who are unwilling to work due to health and other reasons, fully respect their wishes and never force them to sign up for training.
According to the “Investigation Report”, the government’s procedures for organizing the employment of people of all ethnic groups are: employment companies provide information on required positions and numbers, and the human resources and social security departments will publish it publicly through the Internet, human resources market and other channels, and the village committee (community ) Post the recruitment information on the public notice column of the village (community). The village committee (community) personnel go to the families of unemployed persons to learn about employment wishes and publicize the recruitment information. People voluntarily sign up for employment skills training. After passing the training, they will be employed. Employment of ethnic minorities provides organizational guarantees.
Every year, governments at all levels in Xinjiang invest a lot of money in the field of employment skills training.
According to statistics, from 2014 to 2019, Xinjiang arranged a total of 6.957 million person-times of various skills training, including 2.325 million person-times in the four southern prefectures (Kashgar, Hotan, Aksu, and Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture). 379,400 people created 827,400 jobs, with an average of 75,900 entrepreneurs.
The "Investigation Report" stated that with the help of the government, many ethnic minority people have found satisfactory jobs.
From 2014 to 2019, the surplus rural labor force in Xinjiang went out to work for 16.57 million person-times, an average of 2.762 million person-times per year, of which 10.07 million person-times were in southern Xinjiang, an average of 1.678 million person-times per year.
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